


Stomkru 1: Arrival

by SingingTheThunder



Series: Stomkru [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Diversion, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives, Arguably a Fix-It Fic, BDSM as an Alternative to Therapy, Blood, Broken Bones, Canon-Typical Bondage, Canon-Typical Drug and Alcohol Use by Minors, Canon-Typical Questionable Medical Practices, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-typical peril, Cheating, Corporal Punishment, Drowning, Forcible Adoption, Gaslighting, Gen, Going to do my best to keep that tag, I could either tag relationships that happen in this bit, I don't even know how some of these happened, I want my happy ending, If they're tagged they're safe, Impact Play, Implied Pet Play?, Look these kids go through a lot, Minor Character Death, Mount Weather is its own warning, Multi, Promise, This isn't porn, and I'm not doing this professionally so I don't need to pretend it's not pure Author Appeal, but by the end they're all still alive so that's a step up from canon, despite Murphy's best efforts to get rid of the 'non', don't do that, even the one about plot, my tags are warnings not adverts, my thing is punishment, non-sexual bdsm, note the mature rating, or just not, relationships that are endgame but haven't happened yet, there's a proper plot and everything, you know how canon finds some excuse to sneak bondage into every episode?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-01 12:42:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 149,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15774348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingTheThunder/pseuds/SingingTheThunder
Summary: Tiny things can change huge things.Not always.Not always for the better, either.A butterfly flaps its wings and the air currents twist into the shape to create a storm.Imagine the first attack isn’t a spear.It’s a fog.In which I make a serious effort to save everyone despite the hostile environment of the canon universe and explore the worldbuilding a little more thoroughly than canon.Please stop setting everything on fire before we have time to get to know the world?Updates whenever I finish a chapter so I'm always a good way ahead.





	1. Hainofi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hainofi - Princess
> 
> Longest thing I've ever written at 150,000 words (my previous best was 6,000 ...) and I'm already two chapters of 10,000 into a *sequel* as I post this?

The first clue is the snake fleeing. It lets go of Octavia’s leg and vanishes upstream, diving into a submerged hole in the bank. Jasper hauls her out, but the others are all staring in the direction the snake went.

Above the water a rolling cloud of yellow gas boils towards them. They can’t run, Octavia’s leg is injured and they don’t have anywhere to run to.

Clarke makes the only choice available. The only action that isn’t inaction. “Into the water! Go! Deep breath and hold! Go! Go!”

Monty and Jasper help Octavia, the water’s shallow enough that they can crouch, feet on the riverbed and be fully submerged, but not have to swim. Finn freezes, watching death descend and Clarke shoves him in. She takes as much air as possible into her lungs and follows.

It’s completely alien underwater. The water has a weight to it, rolling over her skin like cloth. The fog rolls over the surface and everything turns a sickly yellow. She’s surprised to find that staying down is difficult, she’d always assumed the danger was that you sank like the stones on the floor.

Finn is panicking. He hadn’t heard her instruction to breathe in. His arms flail, creating little invisible waves that crash into the others. No wonder the snake could find Octavia before.

Clarke pushes towards him. It’s not like zero gravity, not even close, but she finds the same movements work well enough. She’s swimming.

She grabs his head and holds him still so she can kiss him. Pushing some of her store of air into his lungs. It makes him stop flailing at least, though if it’s from shock or calm Clarke doesn’t know or care.

Jasper gives them a thumbs up, smiling close mouthed, he’s pulled his goggles down over his eyes, they’re not doing much. She’s pretty sure if they were on land he’d wolf whistle. There’s more important things to worry about.

Octavia’s leg is bleeding, ribbons of black mimicking the movement of the snake that made the cut. Clarke has no idea if being underwater affects blood flow. It wasn’t exactly priority information on the Ark. She’ll just have to do what she’d do normally.

Tearing Finn’s shirt proves easier than expected, not that she’d given much thought to destroying Finn’s wardrobe. She doesn’t have the time or ability to communicate underwater to ask permission, but he doesn’t resist. The strip of fabric flutters in the current as she pushes towards Octavia. Tying it around her leg is the best she can do for now, hope it’s enough pressure to slow the bleeding, hope it clots, hope there’s no infection in the water.

They can’t surface until the fog has passed and it’s showing no sign of clearing. For as far as she can see in both directions the river has a lid of yellow. Air is already an issue. Clarke gestures for the others to follow her and sets off downstream. It’s the direction the fog was traveling, but it’s going much faster than they are so if there’s an end it’ll catch up, the snake went in the opposite direction and it’ll take less effort than fighting the current.

She has little hope that they’ll find safety before their air runs out, but again chooses action over inaction.

They need air far too soon.

Her lungs ache, her legs ache, their bodies ache. Clarke rips off her sleeve and wraps it around her face. If they’re lucky, the fog will turn out to be breathable and they’ve wasted their energy on nothing. If they’re not, the cloth should filter it enough they can take an usable breath. She checks that the others are copying her before she surfaces.

The air _burns_.

Clarke squeezes her eyes shut and gasps in once before ducking back. The air isn’t good, she can see blisters forming on the others where they were exposed to it and it burns in her lungs nearly as badly as the lack of it, but she’s still conscious, the black at the edges of her vision clearing slightly.

They can do it again when they next run out.

There’s pain. Jasper hasn’t smiled since they started moving. It’s this or the fog. Octavia squints her eyes at the unknown ahead and moves with a grim determination. None of them give up. Monty stops for a moment, unable to force his body to respond and Finn yanks him until he starts again.

The surface again when they’re forced to. They lose count of time, of distance, but never of each other.

There’s still no sign of the fog lifting when they run out of river.

It’s not a dead end, but the mouth into a lake. The bed and bank drop away leaving an open space.

They can’t swim.

They must.

Octavia pushes out first, moving as though she’s trying to claw and kick the water into submission. The other three look to Clarke. She hesitates, maybe if they stop here and surface for air they can survive until the fog lifts. Jasper decides it, kicking off after Octavia, arms windmilling. Monty reluctantly follows him, quickly settling into a reasonably effective doggy paddle.

Clarke isn’t letting three fifths of their party take that risk alone and Finn doesn’t want to be left alone, so Clarke launches with a mix of what she’s seen be most effective and Finn attempts to copy her method.

She can’t see Octavia any more, but a ribbon of blood passes her face and she notices it’s red. The surface is filtering sunlight normally. The fog isn’t here. Clarke tries to communicate this realization to the others, but she’s lost sight of Jasper too. Monty strikes towards the surface, but Finn goes limp. The blood is coming from his direction.

Clarke struggles towards him, dragging his arm over her shoulder and kicking after Monty. Now it’s hard to rise. Ahead of her, Monty breaks the surface of the water only to fall still. She can’t tell why, the fog wouldn’t overcome him that quickly. Finn’s a dead weight though and she needs to breathe, so she keeps struggling towards the light.

The darkness at the edges of her vision has become familiar enough she barely notices when it starts to creep inwards until the light is a pinprick. With the last of her strength she pushes Finn ahead of her.

 

“FOG!”

The shout sounds like nonsense, until the boy who shouted it bolts through the camp and the yellow cloud he’s running from rolls between the trees. There’s panic, nearly a hundred people trying to push each other out of the way to get into the dropship.

Bellamy draws his gun and fires it into the air. It gets attention and people stop trying to force others to remain outside. They’re nothing close to orderly, but they’re not fighting each other. Bellamy and Murphy meet eyes once the doorway clears, both having had the instinct to enforce against the fighting breaking out again. They pull themselves into the dropship in mirrored movement broken only by Bellamy looking over the camp to check for any stragglers.

Wells.

Whoever knocked him down did an effective job, he’s only now struggling to his feet. The cloud is on his heels and it’s not certain he’ll make it.

Something clunks.

Murphy has his hand on the lever to close the door.

Bellamy grabs Murphy’s arm to stop him. He points to Wells.

Murphy just looks confused. He doesn’t let go.

He has no intention of doing so.

He’s going to close the door in Wells’ face.

Bellamy breaks his arm.

It’s not deliberate. He just needs him to let go.

Murphy falls. Screaming. Bellamy ignores him.

He puts his hand on the lever. Watches Wells. Urges him to make it.

Wells gestures to him to close the door.

Bellamy pulls the lever.

The door closes agonizingly slowly. He might have left it too late. If he has they’re all dead.

Wells makes it.

Dives through the closing door. Lays on the floor next to Murphy. Gasps for breath.

The door seals itself with a hiss and time starts moving normally again.

The only sound is Murphy’s sobbing. No one makes a move towards the three boys. Bellamy feels a stab of guilt, but he saved Wells, but everyone is staring, but Murphy looks pathetic. He’d thought he was the hero and heroes don’t feel bad about stopping the bad guy.

Wells rolls over and crawls to Murphy’s side. He tries to help, but Murphy snarls like an animal in a snare.

Bellamy turns to the crowd. “Okay, we don’t know how long this is going to last. Once it passes we can all get out, but we need to sit tight for now. Is anyone else injured? No? Good. Well done, everyone. Even unprepared you stayed calm and worked together. We’ll be out of here before you know it.” He claps and the crowd disperses, a few with glances towards Murphy and Wells.

“You’re full of shit, Blake,” Murphy says, face pale and pinched in pain. He’s sitting up, cradling his arm to his chest and Wells appears to have given up on getting him to let him touch it.

“Yeah,” Wells says to Murphy, “But it’s what they needed to hear.”

Murphy still addresses Bellamy, “And what do I need to hear, fearless leader? That our prince’s life is worth more than mine? Than all of ours? You only look good because they aren’t thinking about what could have happened if you didn’t close the door in time.”

It makes Bellamy angry.

Because he’s right.

And he knows he’s right.

“Don’t tell me you were doing it for them,” Bellamy retorts, “The only person you cared about being inside the ship was yourself.”

Murphy shrugs, then yelps, the movement creating currents of agony along his arm. Wells reaches for him again and he pulls away again.

“Let Wells look at it,” Bellamy orders. He probably lost the right to give Murphy orders, but he finds he doesn’t particularly care.

With a scowl, Murphy turns to let Wells access his arm. He already knew exactly how willing Bellamy is to enforce his orders with force and he won’t take more pain just to avoid accepting help. Wells glances between them, then pulls Murphy’s jacket off. He can’t roll the thick leather and has to remove the unbroken side first to avoid bending the broken.

Murphy immediately pulls the jacket to him with his good arm. He doesn’t let go, digging crescent shaped marks into it with his nails.

Wells looks a little nauseous at the angle Murphy’s arm is bent at. “When – when Clarke comes back she’ll know better, but we should splint it,” he says, “I need something straight that won’t bend. About the length of his forearm. And something to tie it with. Two ties, one for each end. Maybe a third in the middle.”

Bellamy nods and goes looking. It’s not difficult to find a few of lengths of seatbelt, but he needs to enlist a couple of people to help him dismantle the seats more to get a length of metal appropriate.

“Why do you care?” Murphy asks Wells. “I got this trying to kill you.”

Wells shrugs. “I’d rather you’d shut me out than risk anyone else dying and – it’s what Clarke would do.”

“You really are _perfect_ , aren’t you, Chancellor?” Murphy challenges. “Endlessly devoted and kind to even the lowest of your subjects.”

“If I can help someone, I will,” Wells says calmly.

“If they’re right in front of you. If you can’t close your eyes and pretend they don’t exist. I’ve needed help plenty of times on the Ark. Where were you then? Where was _Clarke_?” Murphy smirks. “Not knowing isn’t forgivable when it’s deliberate.”

Bellamy returns and Murphy leans back against the dropship door. “What took so long? You need to check your sister wasn’t hiding under the floor?”

At the reminder of Octavia’s absence, Bellamy drops the length of metal onto Murphy’s leg from a height that makes it painful. “She’ll have found cover,” Bellamy says. “Caves or something. She knows when to hide.”

“Only takes one slip to get caught,” Murphy replies, then howls as Wells straightens his arm against the splint.

Bellamy crouches to tie the seatbelt around the splint and Murphy’s arm while Wells holds both still. He ties it tightly, not just concerned with making it secure and Murphy smiles viciously at that.

Or maybe he just grimaces.

Abby keeps watching the dimmed out profile as though it’s going to turn back on. She’d watched Clarke’s vitals go haywire for about half an hour before she went dark. Whatever killed her was slow and painful.

There had been others with her. Monty Green and Octavia Blake. Their screens had gone dark around the same time. Two others had shown the fluctuations, but appear to have survived, settling to almost normal. Abby hates herself for wishing Jasper Jordan or Finn Collins had died in Clarke’s place.

She doubts it was radiation.

Radiation wouldn’t have stopped at three.

The readouts are almost consistent with drowning, not that Abby's seen that before, but drowning wouldn’t have taken as long. Abby thinks Collins is injured. If Clarke was with him he’d have got treatment, but without her it may well be an even slower death sentence.

They’re children.

Children who need help. Sooner rather than later.

Kane is going to take this as further argument towards population reduction, that they can't survive the Ground. He’s going to approach her. Try to use Clarke’s death to leverage her to his side.

It won’t work.

But it might work on some of the others. Kaplan will stand by Abby, trusting her judgement on the cause of death. Cole might, depending on if she thinks Abby’s grief has made her more convicted to prevent further loss or in denial. Muir is Kane’s man through and through. Fuji has refused to say anything for either side, but minimizing loss of life will be top priority, even if that means longer term greater losses.

She’s not sure what Thelonious will do. If he even wakes up from her surgery. If she hasn’t broken the law to save his life, only for him to turn on her based on the evidence of actual danger to Wells. If Kane can’t gather enough support to carry it out despite Thelonious’ objection.

Abby wants to cry. She should be mourning her daughter, but instead she’s considering her next political move to try and prevent anyone else needing to mourn their daughters.

There’s a danger Kane will try to get her to take bereavement leave. She’s the leader of the only real opposition to him, without her the others will fold. Perhaps if she can convince Thelonious to appoint Callie as her temporary replacement and continue to -

Commander Shumway enters, leading a group of guards and Kane.

Abby stands, showing no fear, she’d anticipated this move, though she’d hoped Thelonious would be conscious before Kane made it. “I’m sorry,” she tells them, “this isn’t a good time. My daughter just died.”

Kane flinches, but he’s committed to this and he can’t take it back, even if he wanted to. Even Shumway looks somewhat apologetic as he handcuffs her.

“Abby,” Kane says, reaching out a hand to put on her shoulder, she shakes him off. “Abby. I told you, she was safer here. I’m sorry. You know the law and you broke it. There’s nothing I can do. In my capacity as acting Chancellor, I sentence you to death for exceeding the medical supplies permitted to be used on each patient.”

“There’s always something you can do,” Abby tells him, fierce. “Inaction doesn’t absolve you of anything. You hide behind the law as much as you want, it can’t change that.”

“Which is why we need to reduce population, now, not later,” he argues. He’s about to kill her. He’s already killed her daughter and her husband and now he’s going to kill her and they’re having the same argument they’ve been having for a year.

Abby laughs as the guards take her away.

 

Clarke wakes up.

She hadn’t really expected to.

She definitely hadn’t expected a _ceiling_.

She’s never seen one that wasn’t made of metal. This one is some sort of long dried grass. Wooden beams cross it in a few places. It’s not natural. It’s also not new. Someone built this.

Someone human.

Someone human who has been on the ground much longer than she has.

Grounders.

There are more survivors.

She tries to sit up, pushing through the dizziness and nausea to look around. It’s _beautiful_.

Decoration on the Ark was minimal, recycled from century old materials. There’s no such shortage here. A brown glass bottle serving as vase to fresh flowers. A blanket woven in a geometric blue and grey pattern. A wall mural of a sleeping fox, a circular sweep of orange with features picked out in sharp thin black lines. It all clashes, overwhelming her with color. It’s beautiful.

It’s almost enough that she doesn’t notice her friends. Finn is sitting in a bed a couple of foot away, smiling at her smile at the wonder. There’s a proper bandage around his chest and he’s leaning forward to keep weight off his back. Beyond him she sees Monty, still asleep, but she can tell his chest is rising and falling.

Octavia and Jasper are missing.

“They’re just outside,” Finn says, correctly interpreting her look of panic. “Helin said Jasper was okay and Octavia wouldn’t let a little cut on her leg stop her exploring. I’d have gone too, but …” He gestures at his bandages with a wince, but he doesn’t stop grinning. “There’s _Grounders_ , Clarke! Real Grounders! It’s amazing. _They’re_ amazing. They’ve got this red plant -”

“Great,” Clarke says, not really listening. The ground is survivable. They need to find a way to get that message to the Ark. That’s the priority. If Monty was awake … No, she needs to talk to the Grounders, see if they have the technology. It seems unlikely, but …

She’s swung her feet onto the floor and is halfway to the door before she registers anything Finn is saying. “- Helin’s the doctor here, well, she called herself a _fisa_ , but it’s the same thing.”

“Wait,” Clarke says, turning back to face him, “They don’t speak English?”

Finn seems bemused that that’s what she’s got from what he’s told her. “Most of them seem to, but they’ve got this other language they use with each other. Why?”

“This whole continent was primarily English speaking a hundred years ago,” Clarke explains, distracted again.

Finn starts to shrug, then thinks better of it. “Things change.”

“Things change for a reason,” she says and walks out.

 

Inside the dropship they have no way of knowing the fog has stopped for certain. Bellamy doesn’t mention that fact to anyone. He sets himself up in the center section, as close to the middle of that he can. Makes sure everyone can see he’s with them and calm and available to bring concerns to.

He gathers his lieutenants. Murphy has taken a rather abrupt descent in status and can’t climb the ladder anyway. Mbege is the only one who looks anything other than positive about his absence. Atom swings his booted feet up on a seat and Bellamy immediately knocks them off. Miller rolls his eyes. Roma sits far too close to Bellamy, but he isn’t complaining. She’s probably going to replace Murphy. She might not be the best choice, but she’s got an ambitious streak and Bellamy isn’t interested in a right hand he can’t easily control. Murphy had got the job based purely on it being his gang Bellamy was … not taking over, requisitioning.

Wells sits at the side of the room watching them and Bellamy weighs the pros and cons of inviting him to join them. He doesn’t need a replacement for Murphy, four lieutenants is plenty, but he doubts he can trust Mbege much longer and three is less than ideal. Preempting that to avoid having to manage with just three for any amount of time is a good idea.

He’s just not certain about choosing Wells for the job. Unlike most of them, Wells isn’t a criminal, he might turn down the position which would set him up as an alternative leader for anyone who wanted one. Even if that wasn’t Wells’ intention. What Wells is is the son of a politician. If Chancellor Jaha hasn’t brought up his son to someday take office, then Bellamy has seriously misread the man. He’s a useful asset, one Bellamy wants publicly on his side. What he isn’t is easy to control. Bellamy isn’t sure he can at all. Not with Clarke in the picture.

That’s what decides it. Clarke’s opinion of Wells is already poor, if she returns to find Murphy with a broken arm and that Wells has accepted his old position that could be enough to make her completely cut ties with him. A broken Wells is more useful than no Wells and every supporter he takes from Clarke makes her less of a threat.

Bellamy excuses himself with a joke and a grin for his people and joins Wells at the side of the room. “You don’t have to sit over here on your own,” Bellamy tells him, nodding towards where his lieutenants are happily providing an unwitting advertisement. “We’ve no idea how long we’ll all be together, may as well make some friends.”

“No, thank you,” Wells says, eyes fixed at a point on the wall, not even looking at the lieutenants.

That just makes Bellamy more certain he wants him. He doesn’t think Miller and Atom even recognized he was offering them a job when he recruited them. “What have you got to lose?” he asks. “We’re not the bad guys here. I saved your life, least you can do in return is hang out with me and my friends.”

“Your enforcers,” Wells corrects. “I’m not interested in joining a gang.”

Bellamy drops any pretense at merely extending the hand of friendship. “This shouldn’t be news to you, but you already have. That’s what we are. The Hundred. The moment your father made the choice to abandon us, we became outlaws. Unless you’re planning on wandering off into the woods on your barely healed leg, you’re part of our gang. What I’m offering you is the chance to make all those thoughts you have about what we should be doing reality. I know you want to help, but there’s nothing you can do if they won’t listen to you. They listen to me.”

It’s a good pitch, only slightly weaker for Wells knowing it’s one. “You don’t share my thoughts on what we should be doing,” he points out. It’s not a refusal.

“Not all of them,” Bellamy admits, “But you’re right more than you’re wrong. You’re just doing a terrible job at telling them they need to do it. Down here you can’t just give orders and expect them to be obeyed like you’re used to. You have to tell them what’s in it for them. Make them think it was their idea. Tell them they have freedom to choose and make your way the only choice.”

“Lie to them,” Wells translates.

“For their own protection.” Bellamy makes a gamble on an educated guess. “You’re not so opposed to that when it’s Clarke you’re protecting.”

He knows he’s right when Wells leans back against the wall without responding. Now he just has to reel him in.

“I won’t ask you to do anything you wouldn’t do anyway,” Bellamy lies. “I don’t need or want another thug like Murphy. I’d appreciate having someone who can actually keep up with me in my corner.” He gestures at his current lieutenants again, this time disparagingly.

“You’re a manipulative bastard, Blake,” Wells informs him. “I’m in.”

 

The sunlight burns Clarke’s eyes and she stands still to blink her way back to seeing. It’s lucky she does, because all that’s between her and walking into the lake is the width of a thin walkway. There’s a few other buildings and she can see the design reflected there.

Each round thatched hut stands on stilts above the water, the base almost brushing the surface. If Monty had surfaced underneath one of those there wouldn’t have been space for his head. A couple even extend below. The narrow walkways connect buildings in places, but there’s small boats that must serve the same purpose. She can’t see any connections to the land.

She’s in front of a medium large building, slightly bigger than the ones she thinks are family dwellings, but not as large as some of the others in the complex. The larger buildings are connected by more of a deck, some sort of communal area with a stage and firepit.

And there are people.

Her heart sinks slightly when she sees them. They’re in furs and leather and wool and woven clothes. A few carry spears or bows, no guns. There’s no wires on any of the buildings. No electrical hum, just the splashing of water. She won’t find what she needs to contact the Ark here.

That’s when she sees Jasper and the relief that he’s safe almost quiets the nervous thoughts in her mind. He’s surrounded by a group of small children who are taking turns to try on his goggles. Clarke starts walking towards him, one hand on the wall to keep from slipping into the water. It’s a relief to step onto the deck.

Jasper looks up and sees her and she waves, forcing a smile onto her face. He waves enthusiastically back, then points to the side where Octavia sits next to a middle aged lady. Octavia looks rather grumpy, so Clarke heads in that direction.

Octavia perks up somewhat at Clarke’s approach and starts to stand to meet her, but the woman puts a hand on her arm and Octavia remains seated with her scowl returning full force.

Clarke gives Octavia the hug she was about to come to her for and when they release each other Clarke turns to the woman. “Hello. Thank you for helping us.” It’s suitably neutral and honest. She doesn’t think these people mean them any harm, but she’s instinctively cautious.

The woman smiles. “Princess Clarke, I am glad you are awake. I'm Helin, fisa of Podakru. Please, think you're honored guests.”

“Princess?” Clarke asks Octavia who shrugs. It’s probably Finn’s fault. She doesn’t know how much, if any, of their friendliness is reliant on them believing that title though, so she doesn’t challenge it further.

“Thank you again, Helin,” Clarke says, “But I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask more of you. I have to return to my people. You saw how we were when we arrived. We’re not just lost, we have no supplies. Some of us are injured.”

Octavia looks utterly bored, both with the conversation and with resting her leg.

“You were caught by Maund-de Fog, yes,” Helin says. “Swimming was a good plan.”

“None of us could swim,” Clarke admits.

Helin tilts her head in confusion. “Where do you come from that you haven't learned?”

Clarke tries to think of a way of explaining it to people who apparently haven’t advanced past the loom. “We came from the sky. There’s a – a boat up there. Bigger than this whole village. My people live there, but you can’t swim in air, so we don’t have any way to learn. Our boat is – is sinking. So our leaders decided to send us to the ground. One hundred children. To save us.” She sees no reason to tell the nice lady that they’re criminals or that they’re considered expendable. “We didn’t know there were people here. There’s no way back to the sky and even if there was we’d die when the ship does.” Or that the intention is for more people to follow. “We mean no harm, there’s only a few of us and this land can support us all. We only want to be allowed to survive.”

“There was the star,” Helin tells her, "brighter than any our oldest remember, that fell from the sky. Was that you?”

There’s no reason to deny it. “Yes. I know it sounds like a child’s story, but until today, you were a child’s story to me too.”

Helin believes her. It’s not as much of a relief as Clarke thought it would be.

“I'm sorry,” Helin says and she sounds as though she genuinely is. “The land you fell on is Trikru land. Podakru can't speak for Trikru. We can offer you escort to their border and negotiate on your behalf for safe passage through, but nothing more. We're a small kru. A hundred would overwhelm us. We do not have the houses or the food to offer. If – if you've children of the age of the ones so interested in your man’s mask, we may be able to foster some, but we can't take you all.”

It takes Clarke a moment to interpret. She’d never have called Jasper a man. Especially not when he’s giving one smaller child a piggyback and attempting to retrieve his goggles from another.

“Thank you,” Clarke says, she feels like she’s having to say that a lot this conversation. “Mostly we’re older. They didn’t think the youngest would survive alone. An escort would be appreciated for as far as you can take us. Do you know when my people will be well enough to travel?” She already knows, Jasper and her are the only ones for who the answer is now. She also knows she can’t wait for the others.

Helin tells her exactly that and Clarke is at least glad the woman didn’t feel the need to lie to her. “Then me and Jasper will leave as soon as an escort is ready,” Clarke says. “You understand I can’t leave most of my people while a handful recover.”

“What? No!” Octavia finally seems to care. “I’m not sitting around here. Bellamy will come looking for me if I’m gone too long.”

“I can tell Bellamy not to worry,” Clarke tells her, though she suspects Octavia’s reluctance is more related to the sitting around than the Bellamy. “Besides you get to be the first to explore a Grounder village. First to set foot on the ground _and_ first contact.”

“One of the first,” Octavia grumbles. “You have to go, but can’t Jasper stay?”

Clarke wants to tell her Jasper isn’t an entertaining pet that she can make do tricks, but the way Jasper is having a mock tug of war with a child over his goggles makes that not particularly believable. “If he wants to stay, I won’t stop him, but I won’t make him stay either.”

Octavia seems to accept that. Clarke suspects Finn is going to be even more difficult to convince.

 

The fog clears eventually.

Bellamy goes looking for Octavia.

He’s not sure if it’s a relief or not that he doesn’t find her.

Her tracks end at a river. It’s not deep enough that she might have drowned. They search both banks, but find no other tracks.

What they do find are Octavia’s clothes.

Presumably, she decided to strip down to wash, understandable given she’s never even been able to use the showers on the Ark, the walk would have left her sweaty and the fact at least half his search party promptly decide to do the same. That doesn’t explain why her underwear is missing, unless she figured she could wash it and it got carried away by the river or she was wearing it for modesty. It doesn't explain the lack of evidence of the others either.

He carefully doesn’t think about what could have attacked her in the river that wouldn’t leave a trace of a body.

Bellamy can’t think of a reason Octavia and the rest would go far up or down river. None of them are amazing at tracking either, it’s easily possible they missed something. Bellamy insists on keeping the search going until nightfall.

When Atom complains about this, Bellamy steps into his personal space, one hand on a knife made of a sharpened bit of scrap metal. It’s almost disappointing when Atom backs down immediately.

When night falls, they make camp. It’s the last place Bellamy knows Octavia was for certain and he’s unwilling to leave it, in case she returns.

She doesn’t.

Bellamy lingers by the river until the rest are nearly out of sight, then builds an arrow and the letter B out of rocks. If she finds her way back here, it’s probably recognizable enough that she could find the dropship from it, but he wants her to know he came looking.

He looks back with every step until long after the river vanishes from view.

When he gets back to the dropship, he finds he’s no longer the leader.

 

Abby lies in her daughter’s cell and cries. Not for herself, but for Clarke and the rest of the hundred and the people Kane is going to kill to reduce population and the rest of the Ark who are going to die when the air runs out anyway.

She’s rarely felt helpless before.

She doesn’t like it.

The door opens and Thelonious is standing there. Abby wipes away evidence of her tears immediately. She’s half angry at him for saving her, half angry at herself for needing him to. She wouldn’t have got far if she hadn’t learned to hide her anger a long time ago.

“Abby,” Thelonious says, “I heard about Clarke. I’m so sorry.” She lets him hug her, makes him think she started it.

“It wasn’t radiation,” Abby tells him. “Something else. Clarke drowned. Kane is going to kill more people when what we should be doing is getting to the ground so we can stop any more accidental deaths.”

She’s losing him, he’s suspicious of her motives in telling him this. Thinks she’s trying to undermine Kane’s political standing.

She is.

“Wells is still down there,” Abby says.

 

“I’m not going anywhere,” Jasper says, a stubborn set to his posture Clarke hasn’t seen before. “Not without Monty.”

Clarke doesn’t much want to argue, he seems safe here, he seems happy here, aside from Monty he seems the most sensible here. The only reason to persuade him would be so that she wasn’t alone. She doesn’t need him. Clarke smiles. “I didn’t think you would,” she lies. “Take care of him. Make sure Octavia doesn’t make her leg worse, because she won’t accept can’t.”

“Tie Finn to the bed so he doesn’t go running after you,” Jasper jokes.

Clarke looks like she’s seriously contemplating it and they share an amused glance.

“Then again, maybe you should be the one to tie him to the bed,” Jasper says, “I think he’d like that better.”

Clarke swipes at his arm, then pulls him into a hug. “I’ll miss you,” she tells him, honest now. “Take care of them for me.” She’s not sure why she trusts Jasper to do better at that than Octavia or Finn or even the still sleeping Monty, but her instincts tell her he’s the right choice.

“Only things I’ve been responsible for before were an illegal still and a, uh, medicinal herb garden,” he says and maybe that’s why. Jasper recognizes that she’s leaving him in charge.

That and she’s leaving them to make friends.

Clarke hasn’t been _avoiding_ Finn, just not being in the same location as him and ignoring the people he sends asking after her. His whole posture perks up when he sees her. A cynical voice in her head includes a mention of another part of his anatomy perking up as well.

She smiles at him. She likes him, she really does, but he’s like a puppy, all floppy hair and wagging tail. It would be so easy to let herself love him.

Maybe she can allow herself that indulgence.

“I’m leaving in the morning,” she tells him and his expression is enough to melt her heart. “I’ve organized a stretcher to carry you. Monty needs to stay with the healer until he comes round, Jasper won’t go without him and Octavia would need tying to the stretcher to stop her insisting on walking instead. I can’t leave you _all_ behind … especially not you.”

It’s exactly what he wants to hear and she feels slightly sick that she knew that before she started speaking.

“It’ll hurt,” Clarke warns him and she’s not just talking about the stretcher.

“I don’t care,” Finn says.

Now she just needs to actually organize it.

 

Bellamy watches as Wells takes control from under him. He fights it, of course, but the fog has changed everyone’s priorities.

Trina and Pascal were lost as well as the five Clarke took to find Mount Weather. He’s still not convinced Octavia is dead. He won’t mourn her until he is. He won’t mourn her.

There’s no enemy this time. He can’t wage a war on a fog for taking her from him. He couldn’t wage a war on the Ark either.

So he looks for someone to hate. There’s so many excellent choices. Clarke, Wells, Murphy. Clarke is absent and he needs to keep a positive facade about Wells, so Murphy takes the brunt of it. He’s awfully good at being hateable.

“Did I miss the engagement announcement? Was I really such a lousy lay you had to replace me with the Chancellor?” Murphy asks, poking the campfire so smoke blows in both their faces. “Then again he’s already screwing you over in the divorce.”

“It wasn’t a marriage, he was supposed to be my lieutenant,” Bellamy says. He can be honest here, Murphy doesn’t have a good opinion of him to ruin and he knows most of it already.

“Cute, recruiting the leader of a gang under the pretense of a partnership, then pushing him out in order to take over yourself,” Murphy muses. “Where have I heard that story before?”

“What I did to you is different. All you aspired to was chaos. You’ve made it quite clear your only loyalty is to yourself.”

“And all you aspired to was fear.” Murphy has an annoying habit of worming his way right into Bellamy’s insecurities. “And I never betrayed you. You’re the one who threw me out over your own mistake.”

“Saving Wells wasn’t a mistake,” Bellamy says, not sure he entirely believes that any more.

Wells stands several meters away, directing Miller on the outline of defensive fences and Bellamy spits into the fire.

“No,” Murphy says.

“I didn’t say anything yet.”

“You’re going to suggest we team up to take him down. That’s only going to end with me screwed again, so float the idea.”

“I wasn’t going to suggest that,” Bellamy lies.

“You know,” Murphy tells him, “I don’t care who’s in charge. Long as I don’t have to experience any consequences. Consequences like a broken floating arm.”

“I said I was sorry about that.”

“No, you didn’t and no, you’re not. You wouldn’t even be talking to me if you had any real support.”

Roma clings to Wells’ side and he politely extracts himself from her.

“I still have Atom and Mbege,” Bellamy claims.

“Atom, sure, he can’t identify a sinking ship with the water up to his shoulders, but Mbege is, and always has been, mine.” Murphy throws his poking stick into the fire and brushes his hands together.

Wells’ system of government is rather different from Bellamy’s. Instead of basing usefulness on control, he appears to be basing usefulness on competence. He’s rewarding people for talents that will help them survive. He’s giving them purpose.

“If I’m a sinking ship, you’re on the seabed,” Bellamy points out. “Who’s smarter then, Atom or Mbege?”

“Nope,” Murphy says. “See Wells wants an army. He calls us hunters, but that’s just an excuse to arm us. He thinks we’re going to war.”

“Who with?” Bellamy sneers. “The trees or the boars?”

Murphy shrugs. “I’m not going to be the idiot who tells the crazy man he’s crazy.”

“You’re always that idiot,” Bellamy points out, correctly.

“Well, maybe someone broke my arm and taught me when to keep my mouth shut.”

“What a pity you clearly haven’t learned.”

“There’s a place for you, too,” Murphy offers. “If you let him give it to you.”

“What happened to whatever the hell we want?”

“It was always a pretty lie.”

 

Kane does at least have the decency to look guilty when confronted with an Abby he tried to float. At least in private. At least in front of Thelonious.

She slaps him and he makes no move to defend himself. “Callie did that as well,” Kane tells her and Abby feels almost satisfied.

“No charge of assault?” Abby asks.

“Abby, you know I wouldn’t -” Except he had. To kill people she was trying to save, he had. “Not for myself. It – it was public.”

“No,” Abby whispers, understanding what he’s telling her.

“I can’t sentence you for saving a life one day and absolve her of a public attack on a Council Member the next. Jaha agreed.” Kane says Jaha, not Thelonious, he’s not forgiving the Chancellor any time soon.

Abby thinks of Jake and feels sorry for him. Both hims. And Callie. And Clarke. “You did what you had to,” she tells him. “Maybe now you’ll realize your actions have consequences for you as well as the rest of us.”

Kane looks like he expects her to hit him again. Looks like he wants her to.

It would cause him more pain to walk away, so Abby does.

 

Monty wakes up.

Jasper’s there and he looks unharmed and he’s smiling and that’s everything important covered. They hug and Monty takes in their location over Jasper’s shoulder.

“Wow,” is all he can say.

“I know,” Jasper says. “Grounders. We’re not alone.”

Monty grins, pulling back just enough to press his forehead against Jasper’s, wanting eye contact, but not to lose any other kind. “The others?”

“They’re okay,” Jasper tells him. “You’re the last to wake up, lazy. Octavia’s going to explode if she has to sit still for another minute and Finn and Clarke – already left to get back to the dropship. The Grounders are helping us. We’re not prisoners or anything. I’ve been helping back where I can. They have these nuts that give you crazy visions and I’m working on refining them. Everyone loves the guy who brings the drugs to the party, right? I mean, not just the nuts, they use willow bark as a painkiller and there’s a few others I can do something with …”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Monty promises. If the Grounders have been here the whole time, he doubts there’s anything he knows about the not quite what he was taught flora that they don’t already, but they’re guests, the least he can do is repay their kindness.

“Knew I could count on you,” Jasper says, one hand carding through Monty’s hair. “Knew you’d come back to me if I waited.”

“Every time.”

 

“You must be realistic, Abigail,” Kane says, a patronizing tone that just makes her more angry. “Children are dying here as well. All we can do now is buy more time to find a solution.”

“Children are dying because they’re _children_ ,” Abby counters. “They’re not equipped to survive without us. What happened to Clarke was an accident. One that Collins and Jordan lived through.”

“I remember you arguing the exact opposite when that was what it took for Jaha to agree to send them.”

“We have more data. At the time I believed they could. At least for long enough to know that the ground is survivable. And now we know it is. It’s time to join them.”

“We can’t,” Kane says and she can see his sadness now. “Exodus … the ship will hold seven hundred of our people, no more. We’re making a list. Essential personnel. But the moment we cut Exodus loose or even declare we’re filling it, there will be panic. It doesn’t matter what’s killing those children. We have to let them die to give us time to find an _alternate solution_. Exodus must be our last resort. Or we’ll tear each other apart for a seat on it.”

Abby sits down heavily, leaning her elbows on the table and resting her face in her hands. Kane reaches out as if to put his hand on her shoulder, then pulls it away again. “If you have an answer to this one, we all want to hear it,” Kane tells her and walks away.

It’s not easy to admit, especially when they’ve been arguing about every detail for the last year, but he’s partially right. They have to leave Exodus until the very last minute. If that last minute is sooner rather than later, more children will survive. Killing two hundred now to extend their time is a waste. They can save eight hundred.

It’s not enough, but it will have to be.

More time won’t help them find a solution that doesn’t exist.

Her head jerks up at a noise and Abby quietly stands. It’s only a couple of steps to the closed door and then she’s pulling it open, a girl staggering into the room.

“I was -” the girl starts to spin some story, but Abby doesn’t care.

“Reyes,” Abby says and the girl freezes up at the realization Abby knows her name. “Raven Reyes. You’re Sinclair’s prodigy. Youngest zero grav mechanic in … well, a very long time.”

Raven nods. “I didn’t mean to listen, I just wanted to know – Finn Collins, he was – he was one of the ones they sent down, isn’t he?”

“How do you know about that?” Abby asks, if that’s become public knowledge …

“Because I’m not floating blind,” Raven tells her, defiant set to her chin that reminds Abby painfully of Clarke. “And I mean floating literally. From outside it’s obvious the Skybox is empty. You can talk about quarantine all you want, there’s no one there. And there’s not many places to hide a hundred teenagers. I worked on the dropship. I know it’s possible to send them to Earth. What I don’t know is why. There’s the airlocks right there if you decided they don’t get to live. And until you go public, it doesn’t have the benefit of sounding like the kinder option.”

“It’s not the kinder option,” Abby agrees. “But you know that.” If Raven has figured that much out … if Raven has a personal investment in the safety of at least one of the children … if Raven really is as good as Sinclair claims. Screw waiting for Exodus, she’s sending help _now_.

She tells Raven the truth.

 

Bellamy carefully picks his time to approach Wells. He wants to rescue him again.

Even if it’s just from some proposition that judging by Jacob and Jason’s gleeful expressions involves destroying something impressively.

He doesn’t know them personally, but everybody here knows each other by reputation. They’re both from Tesla station, have an unhealthy fascination with breaking things and between them, the club Jacob is carrying has more brains. They’re not amazingly effective, but they more than make up for that in enthusiasm.

“Could I have a word?” Bellamy asks and Wells actually looks relieved.

“In private,” Bellamy adds when that doesn’t get the message across to Jacob and Jason that they should go.

That doesn’t work either.

“Oh, just float off,” Bellamy tries.

“Got it, boss!” Jacob says, attempting to salute with the hand holding his tree branch. Jason still doesn’t seem to have caught on, so Jacob pulls him away by the sleeve.

“Murphy tells me you’re letting him build an army.” Bellamy doesn’t mess around this time. He knows Wells knows he knows Wells knows this is a game. He also knows Wells knows he knows Wells is winning. “If anything can topple your little throne, it’s Murphy with control over a pack of thugs.”

“He turned you down, huh.” Wells doesn’t make it a question, so Bellamy sees no reason to answer it.

“Murphy is an agent of Murphy. He won’t serve another master.”

“He’ll serve me,” Wells states, plainly. “Because he knows you’re the alternative.”

“Still doesn’t explain why you’re handing him an army on a plate.”

“Because I need one. Because I’d rather give it to Murphy than to you. Because if he’s busy he’s not building dissent against me.”

“The hell do you need an army for?” Bellamy _isn’t_ upset at being passed over for the job, he _isn’t_. Who here has actual guard training, anyway? Not John Murphy, that’s for sure.

Wells doesn’t answer that question, not quite. “I never said I was building an army. I’m letting Murphy think _he’s_ building an army. They hunt. If it puts food in our mouths, he can think he’s the king of the butterflies for all I care.”

“Look, I won’t oppose you,” Bellamy says. _Because I can’t_ , he doesn’t. “I just want to know what you’re working towards here. What’s the plan?”

“Clarke,” Wells says.

“Clarke isn’t a plan. She’s missing.”

“If Clarke was here, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. She’d already have pushed both of us aside. You’re better than Murphy, I’m better than you and Clarke’s better than me. I’m not Chancellor here, I’m acting Chancellor. I’m Clarke’s second in command, came to terms with that a long time ago. My father didn’t teach me how to be Chancellor after he’s dead. He taught me how to support one.”

“My mother taught me to support my sister,” Bellamy says. He knows the comparison is inaccurate at best. “The guard taught me to support my officer. That doesn’t mean I’m going to roll over and beg because Clarke Griffin tells me to. If she’s even still alive.”

“If Clarke’s dead, so’s Octavia,” Wells points out. “Neither of us will accept that option.” He holds out his hand. “I really want you at my side, Bellamy. Third in the hierarchy is the best offer you’re going to get.”

Bellamy takes his hand.

 

It’s a long walk to the Trikru/Podakru border.

Or rather to the allowed crossing point. They actually reach the border two hours into the first day, but then they have to walk along it to a village the leader of their escort, Shel, calls Frenli.

The village doesn’t feel particularly friendly.

The leader of the people who meet them is about the same age as Helin, but pure warrior where Helin was a healer. She’s as dark as Clarke is pale, a shadow on the trees.

“Ai laik Kali kom Trikru. Hakom Podakru kamp raun hir?” she challenges. 

Their escort’s seken, a term which apparently means apprentice, translates for Clarke and Finn’s benefit. “She is Kali of Trikru. She wants to know why we are here.” His name is Tomos and he’s a couple of years younger than them and he thinks Finn’s hair looks very soft like rabbit fur.

Kali’s eyes snap to him and she adds, “Chomouda yu lan Gonasleng op?”

Their escort, Shel, steps between his seken and Kali. “We speak Gonasleng for Hainofi Klark kom Skaikru en emo Snogon Fin kom Skaikru.”

“Clarke’s what?” Finn asked. “Tomos, what did he call me?”

Tomos blushes and doesn’t answer.

“He called you her lover,” Kali says, appraising Finn and Clarke unashamedly.

“Oh, uh, I mean we’re not … not if … yet …” Finn stumbles over his words.

Clarke steps in quickly. “Finn is one of my people. None yet have titles beyond that.”

“I have not heard of your people, Hainofi kom Skaikru,” Kali points out. “Only those from Maun-de speak only Gonasleng. Are you from Maun-de?”

She recognizes the term or at least has heard it once before. Helin had called the acid cloud Maun-de Fog. “No, I’m not,” Clarke says. “I’m from -”

Shel interrupts in Trigedasleng before Clarke can start her speech. “Nou bilaik joken cheka, Kali. Deimeika frag Maunon op.”

Tomos giggles, then goes very quiet and still at both Kali and Shel’s glare, He doesn’t seem to dare translate it.

Kali allows Clarke to tell her story after that though.

“We know of the skaifayaslip” Kali doesn’t look happy about it, not that Clarke would know what Kali happy would look like. “Heda has not yet sent fossopas to investigate. If what you say is true, you are invaders of our lands.”

Clarke takes a deep breath, this is exactly the response she’d feared. “Not deliberately. When you flee a sinking boat, do you stop to check if it’s someone else’s island before you crawl ashore? We’d leave without a fight, but we have nowhere to go. This forest is large and wealthy, isn’t there enough for us all?”

Kali shrugs. “What I think doesn’t matter. It’s Heda who will decide. Save your pretty words for her.”

And if Heda is as friendly as you we’re screwed, Clarke thinks harshly, fighting to keep from frowning. “We would seek passage through your land. First to my people and then to lead them to your Heda. We are unarmed and my – my man is injured. There are many dangers in these woods.”

“I will lead your escort myself, Hainofi,” Kali says.

Clarke doesn’t know if she should be happy about that or not.

 

Wells finds Murphy overseeing a wrestling match between Mbege and one of the kids who was bothering him before Bellamy showed up. He can’t tell which one, their names both begin with J and they seem basically interchangeable.

“I really hope you have a reason for this,” Wells says and drops onto the log next to him.

“You wanted fighters. I’m finding fighters,” Murphy explains, less than helpfully.

The J kid is losing, arguably. He’s all teeth and fists and windmilling and all Mbege can do with that is hold him at arms length. Which he does, easily.

“If they have to beat Mbege to get in, it’s going to be a very small army.” Wells looks unimpressed by the idea.

Murphy responds by standing and shouting, “Alright, Sparky! Fight’s over!”

The J kid answers happily enough to Sparky and bounds over to Murphy. “Did I do good, boss?”

“You did shit, Sparky,” Murphy tells him, almost, almost fondly. “You’re in.”

Sparky’s face splits into an enormous grin and he bounds off to his friend who hands him back his club with a hug.

“Sparky?” Wells asks, pretty sure Murphy is going to give more of an explanation.

“I can’t remember his name,” Murphy admits more easily than Wells would. “One of them’s Jason and the other one is Jacob, but float me if I know which is which.”

Wells shakes his head. “I have the same problem. Like they’re easy enough to tell apart, but their _names_.”

“Me and Mbege have the same problem. Both called John.” Murphy nods at Mbege as he waves on the way past to a water barrel. “Surnames both begin with M. No one’s gonna mistake us for each other, but that didn’t stop us deliberately answering to the wrong name half the time. We were a pair of little shits.”

“You’re still a little shit,” Wells says.

“Wow, Bellamy, I didn’t know your plan to take over the camp would involve such an impressive disguise,” Murphy drawls, scanning the area. “Speaking of Blake, I see Roma has decided it’s his ass she wants to suck this hour. That or she and Bree regularly vanish into random people’s tents, giggling. Sorry, I know how much you wanted a piece of Bellamy’s ass.”

“Are you actually keeping track of who’s winning by watching Roma?” Wells laughs.

“If it works … I mean, I’m pretty sure she’s keeping track by watching me. See you two only talk to me to give me orders or because you’re losing. If it were orders, you’d have got me to come to you. Giving orders means you’re winning. If you come to me, it means you’re losing.” Murphy grins. “Which means …”

Wells groans. “I am never offering that bastard a job as my right hand man again. No matter how much I want him to accept.”

Murphy throws back his head and howls with laughter. “He didn’t. You didn’t. That’s beautiful. You’re perfect for each other. Just the right mix of moron and manipulative to keep each other busy until the end of time.”

“Which one’s the moron?” Wells asks, knowing full well that’s not what Murphy meant.

“Well, one of you is having a threesome and the other is sitting on a moldy log talking to me, so …”

“You know,” Wells says slowly, “You don’t want Bellamy to win.”

“No. Not in a million years.” Murphy stands up. “Sort it out on your own. Or wait until Clarke gets back and let her decide. Flattered to be such a hot commodity, but you can both float yourselves as far as I’m concerned.” He walks into the middle of the area marked out for fighting. “HEY! Anyone else want to try? We’re offering a leaky communal tent and the chance to punch something!”

A girl, Harper McIntyre, shoves her way to the front and steps into the ring.

“You sure?” Murphy asks her and she narrows her eyes for the sting which comes right after. “Didn’t know you were missing your ex enough to screw him in public.” He grins and turns to call Mbege over.

“I don’t want to fight Mbege,” Harper tells him, shrugging off her jacket and handing it to a friend.

Murphy grins at her appreciatively, then glances over at Wells. “Hey, Chancellor. Sorry to leave you all worked up, but I got a better offer. Have to make McIntyre scream.” He winks.

“Murphy,” Wells says. “You’re an overconfident ass and _she_ is going to kick your overconfident ass.”

Murphy’s grin actually grows at that, he’s not bothering to hide that he’s appreciating Harper’s tight vest top. “Oh, I know she is.” They start circling each other. “If you’re really wound that tight, Wells, you can always go jerk off to the picture of Clarke you keep under your pillow.”

Wells makes one last attempt at being the voice of reason, doubting it’ll work. “Murphy, you have _a broken arm._ ”

 

Octavia kicks the deck with her uninjured leg again. She’s got a whole world right there in front of her and she’s only allowed glimpses. She’s used to boredom, but this is agony. When she was under the floor she slept most of the time, the images in her head much better than the reality, but now she’s woken up and the images are better than she imagined and she can’t go be in them.

No one seems to want to come near here. She’s not sure why. It can’t be that she’s a stranger, because Monty is having a calm conversation with Helin and Jasper is nearly always besieged by a flock of children.

Octavia kicks again and Jasper flops onto the deck near her on his back, breathing heavily.

“If you’re trying to dig yourself a hole to feel more at home, I should warn you there’s water under there,” Jasper says.

“I _know_ that,” Octavia replies, offended.

“Whoa, it was just a joke,” Jasper says and he isn’t smiling any more. She made him stop smiling.

“I don’t want a hole,” she tries. “I want to walk. I want to learn to swim. I want my brother. I want to talk to the Grounders. They don’t want to be near me.”

Jasper looks up at her, it’s an odd angle and maybe it helps him see her a little differently. “Octavia,” he says carefully, “Do you know you’re scowling like you’re going to kick anyone who tries to talk to you?”

She shakes her head, but her confused expression is enough to answer on its own.

He doubts she can read that he feels sorry for her, but he puts on a smile. “Wow, you really never had a chance … Of course you didn’t. Not much call for hiding your emotions under the floor, huh?”

“I’m not broken!” she snarls immediately.

Jasper raises his hands in surrender. “No, you’re not. It’s like how I don’t know to swim. No chance to learn, but that doesn’t mean I can’t ever learn.” Part of him wants to punch Bellamy for loving Octavia enough that he’d approach her regardless of what her expression told him. “If you want someone to approach you, you smile. Even if you don’t know them well enough to know you’re happy to see them. If you want people to go away, you frown. Even if you like them normally. Most people understand those, so it won’t matter if they’re on the Ark or the Ground.” He glances around and finds one of the more persistent children peeking round the side of a building at them. “Try it,” he tells Octavia, pointing the child out.

Octavia’s intense stare might have driven away a less curious child, but Jasper doesn’t mention that. She smiles. Jasper nods encouragement to the child and beckons them over. Octavia’s smile turns triumphant when the child darts towards them, diving onto Jasper’s stomach. Jasper catches them and pushes them in Octavia’s direction.

“Hi,” Octavia says, hiding fear behind almost aggression.

“Okay, that wasn’t very polite, was it?” Jasper says to the child. “I promise she’s actually very friendly when she isn’t injured.”

“Hai, Taiva,” the child says.

Jasper drops the child practically in Octavia’s lap and she flinches. “Oh, ooops,” Jasper says. “Careful of that leg. Octavia this is … hmmm, are you Kalim or Janiz?”

The child laughs, presumably Jasper picked names belonging to people he couldn’t possibly have mistaken for them. “Ai Persi,” the child introduces themselves.

“Nice to meet you, Persi,” Octavia says, because she thinks that’s what people are supposed to say.

Jasper grins up at them both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus translation:  
> Nou bilaik joken cheka, Kali. Deimeika frag Maunon op. - Don't be such a fucking sentry, Kali. The sun kills Mountain Men.  
> The first sentence is a colloquialism I made up that basically means 'you sound paranoid.'


	2. Skaistrecha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow, I'd half forgotten how quickly Murphy and Bellamy go off the deep end.  
> But, like, is anyone really surprised?  
> Also featuring:   
> I swear this timeline matches up.  
> Jasper's army of children.  
> Clarke encounters horses.  
> Limpets.
> 
> So, uh, I should give a translation of the chapter title ...  
> Well, bearing in mind the closest Trigedasleng has for a word for 'space' is 'skai' as in Skaikru ...  
> The meaning of Skaistretcha is Spacewalker.  
> A literal translation would be Skywalker.  
> Finn would be the *worst* Jedi. Definitely one that would fall to the Dark Side. ... Slut.
> 
> In case you were wondering what Kali says to Clarke:  
> Reshop - sleep  
> Skaigeda - Skygirl  
> Op-spuna - little spoon

Clarke ducks into Shel’s tent to find him talking with Kali. They’re both holding cups of the strong brown alcohol Clarke took one sip of and immediately spat out again.

Shel stops mid-sentence to greet Clarke. “Sha, Hainofi?”

“I wanted to thank you again for all your help,” Clarke says. She misses when she got to spend more than a day or two getting to know a new person.

Shel grins widely. “You are welcome, Hainofi. We will see each other again. After all, you will need to return me my seken.”

“Your seken? Tomos?” Clarke looks at them completely bemused.

“Tomos is Helin’s nephew, he has some fisa skill,” Shel explains. “He will go with you to keep your seken from becoming more ill.”

There’s no way to turn down the offer without admitting she has ‘fisa skill’ herself and if she was going to tell them that she would have already. “Thank you. Perhaps my people can help with his duties while he is not with you?”

“I’ll ask them,” Shel accepts.

“Reshop, Skaigada,” Kali says, not unkindly. “You are tired and you op-spuna is waiting.”

Clarke decides not to ask what precisely they’ve decided to call Finn this time.

They’ve been given a single-room building. Finn is already lying in the only bed, carefully balanced so he can talk to Tomos without putting pressure on his back. Clarke wants to go yell at Kali and Shel, she and Finn are not whatever they’ve assumed.

She likes him, sure, but they’ve known each other two days and have spent nearly all of that unconscious, negotiating or underwater. With a dark scowl, she pulls a pillow and a large fur from the bed, folding the fur to make a sort of sleeping bag on the floor.

Clarke can sense Finn about to chivalrously offer her the bed and cuts that off before he can start. “You’re injured. You get the bed.”

“Clarke?” Finn asks and she can _hear_ exactly how much like a kicked puppy he must look right now. “Did I do something wrong? Are you angry?”

Great, she’s going to have to deal with this. She sits up. “I’m not angry, Finn. I’m just not – not comfortable sharing a bed with a stranger.”

“I can go,” Tomos says. “Sorry.”

“Not you, Tomos.” Clarke meets Finn’s eyes. “You’ve been great. Really great. But all I know about you is that you’re the Spacewalker and you don’t know what poison sumac looks like and you keep climbing things … and that my actions led to your injury.”

“Space?” Tomos asks, then clamps a hand over his mouth.

“It’s our word for the sky,” Clarke tells him, before again addressing Finn. “This isn’t a no. It’s a maybe.”

Finn still looks miserable, but he nods. “I don’t want to – you know. I’m too hurt for that to be anything like fun right now.” He swallows and suddenly he looks as young as Tomos. Clarke has an absurd urge to look after him. Finn tilts his head down and looks at her through long eyelashes. “I’m scared.”

Screw it, Clarke thinks. She’s fully dressed, he’s fully dressed, there’s a third person in the room. Why should she mess up her back sleeping on the floor when she’s got who knows how far to walk tomorrow?

She climbs into the bed and tells Tomos to join them. The seken slips into the space the other side of Finn and the three of them look at each for a moment before starting to giggle.

“My mother would be horrified,” Clarke tells them. “She’s always said I’d be better off picking a girl. Two boys is definitely not what she wants me to bring home.”

“Why would a girl be better?” Tomos asks.

“No chance of children,” Finn explains. “There are – I mean were too many children on the Ark. My parents didn’t much mind, just as long as whoever loved me.”

“We’re going to have different priorities now,” Clarke points out. “We all thought we were too young to be thinking about children, but that was before there became a chance we were the only chance at repopulating the Earth.”

“Thankfully the Earth turns out to be plenty populated already.” Finn pokes her in the side with a finger. “You’re forgetting about the implants. Without the tools to remove those we’d be infertile. Could be having as much sex as we wanted and still die out.”

“You go have as much sex as you want, then,” Clarke tells him. “I wasn’t lucky enough to get a portable bed, so I’m going to enjoy this one as long as I have it.”

“It’s a good bed,” Tomos informs them.

“Good to know Kali didn’t give us a rubbish one,” Finn comments.

“Shuddup, sleeping,” Clarke claims, scrunching her eyes shut.

It’s not amazingly funny, but the other two laugh anyway, mostly dispelling the awkwardness.

 

Octavia gets to meet both Kalim and Janiz. She’s right that Jasper could never mistake Persi for them. Kalim is the Wocha, the leader of the clan, he’s a tall man, lanky, all sinew and smiles. He reminds her of Jasper a bit. 

Janiz is the Randzi, the head cook, she’s half a head shorter than Octavia, their skin might have been the same olive at birth, but Octavia is pale from living under the floor, while Janiz is tanned from living under the sun. Her right arm is missing from the middle of the forearm down. Octavia doesn’t stare, she knows what it’s like to be on the other end of that mixture of pity and disgust. Jasper tries his best, but his eyes keep straying to the gap in morbid fascination. Monty is the only one who genuinely doesn’t care. It’s no weirder than most of the other things they have to get used to.

Somehow Monty starts spending more and more time with Janiz. They rarely talk and when they do it’s mainly requests to pass something or trading words for things. Monty helps her, almost instinctively anticipating the things she’s going to need help with. Of course he’s holding the pot still the moment she picks up the ladle to stir. Of course he’ll start chopping vegetables the moment she adds them to her collected ingredients. Of course he’ll hold the sieve over the bowl the moment she reaches for the flour.

He thinks they’re friends. Or at least friendly.

Once she reaches for something with her missing hand and knocks a cup of blackberries over. Monty is already cleaning them up when Janiz says, “I was fisha, fish – fish killer?”

“A fisher,” Monty tells her. “Same word.”

She nods her thanks. “Trikru gonas look for fight find I one time. I be like lucky. No fisher after. No possible fish after. Still lucky.”

“Why?” Monty asks, horrified. “Not the having to stop fishing, I understand that bit, but why did the Trikru gonas hurt you?”

Janiz tilts her head at him in confusion. “Before our gonas burn war camp down. Before them gonas take our three children. Before them we no our river give. Before them kill Rozhil village. Before, before, before.”

“But you’re friends now, right?” Monty asks, wondering if there’s any way he can catch up with Clarke and Finn to warn them before they end up becoming the next before.

“Sha,” Janiz says with a shrug. “Heda Leksa say we stop. But Heda Leksa Trikru. Say Trikru gonas no Trikru.” She puts her hand on his shoulder with a smile. “Trikru take three. We save three. Good.”

Monty rinses the blackberries, considering this information. He hadn’t exactly thought they were some sort of peaceful utopia, he’s seen the weapons people carry and the occasional practice bout, but that’s different to knowing they’ve used those weapons and that training before. That they’ve had reason to.

That the people who did this to Janiz are the ones Monty’s people are at the mercy of.

 

Bellamy puts a plate of food down next Murphy, before sitting next to him. Murphy looks at both of them suspiciously.

“Now, Roma is … making out with Bree against a tree over there, so that’s not much help. I’m not sure where Wells is, but whatever he’s done must have made you worried,” Murphy says with an arched eyebrow.

“Maybe I just want to say sorry for your arm,” Bellamy suggests, starting eating from his own plate.

“Then say it.” Murphy waits a moment. “Didn’t think so.”

“It’s not poisoned.” Bellamy gestures at the food.

“That’s a really comforting thing to say,” Murphy snarks, but he picks it up anyway. “That reminds me, I got you something. Well, I stole it, but that’s a form of getting.” He balances the plate on his lap and throws the bag at his side in Bellamy’s general direction. It hits Bellamy’s knee and whatever it is has a solid sharp corner.

Murphy’s smirk is a challenge so Bellamy opens the bag and pulls out a flat piece of metal that someone has scratched an 8 by 8 grid onto. Half the squares have been filled in with more scratches in a checked pattern.

“There’s pieces too,” Murphy says, “Ones with electrical tape round them are one side, ones without are the other. You can kind of figure out the bishops and whatever, just as long as your opponent uses the same.”

It’s an actual gift. Bellamy looks at the chessboard that Murphy took from someone to give to him and feels a deep and overwhelming confusion.

“What? Why? What?” Bellamy asks. “Do … do you even know how to play?”

“I don’t want to play chess with you. That would mean spending time with you,” Murphy tells him. “It’s for you and Wells, instead of playing the same game with people. I’m sick of watching this shit. Like it was funny the first time and the second time and maybe even the third time, but the joke’s stale. People are getting nervous and nervous people are dangerous. Your stalemate, it’s great for me at the moment, neither of you are staying on top long enough to give a floating fuck what I’m up to, but not everyone agrees. Last thing I want is someone thinking they should make a bid while you two are distracted.”

“And there I was thinking you might have given me something out of the goodness of your heart,” Bellamy says deadpan.

“Never give anyone anything for nothing,” Murphy advises. “All I want in return is immunity. From both of you. You put on a nice face and pretend you’ve agreed to rule together and keep your arguments to the bedroom and neither of you have the right to tell me no or punish me after the fact. In return my hunters are at your disposal, against anyone and anything, except Wells or you. I’m a neutral floating party.”

Bellamy puts the chessboard aside, looking at Murphy slightly differently. “You don’t want to be in charge. I thought you weren’t a threat to that job because you were an idiot, but you really don’t want it.”

“Too much responsibility. Not enough freedom.” Murphy tosses the metal plate aside rather less carefully then Bellamy with the chessboard. “You can make Wells think it’s your idea if you want, long as he gets the message I’m not to be fucked with as well.”

“Wells would say no,” Bellamy realises. “He’s more concerned with the law than who’s enforcing it.”

“From here on, Blake.” Murphy’s grin is cold and cruel. “I am the law.”

 

“I don’t make the law,” Kane says. “I only enforce it. Regardless of my personal feelings on the matter.”

Nigelle doesn’t look too impressed with that statement. “That would matter if any of my actions broke the law. I’m reporting a crime, not committing one.”

“Claiming someone has committed a crime they haven’t is also a crime,” Kane tells her. “I’ll need proof.”

Nigelle pushes the medication Abby traded her for a spaceship part across the table to him. “I want a seat on Exodus,” Nigelle says.

“Exodus?” Kane looks confused. “Exodus won’t be leaving for another hundred years.”

“Exodus has been made ready to leave. It could go at any time.” Nigelle isn’t sharing her sources, but Kane suspects that’s all she actually knows.

Kane hesitates, there’s only one reason Abby would want that part. He needs her up here working on a solution, not on the ground playing with children. Even if that could save the lives of those children.

Even if Abby needs this because she couldn’t save Clarke.

But maybe he can make a third option.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kane says.

 

Monty finds Octavia and Jasper chatting at the edge of the deck with their feet dangling into the water. He sits cross legged next to Jasper and they turn to him with smiles that fade at his expression.

“What’s wrong?” Jasper asks quietly.

“Octavia, how’s your leg?” Monty asks.

“It feels _fine_ , but Helin says it still needs time,” Octavia answers, slightly sulky, but mostly confused.

“It doesn’t,” Monty tells them. “They want to keep us here. They think Trikru are going to kill Clarke and Finn and everyone. I don’t think they mean us harm, just to – to save us.”

Neither of the others hesitate which is a relief.

“We need to warn them,” Jasper says.

“When do we leave?” Octavia’s grin is fierce and bright.

 

Clarke wakes to the sound of arguing in Trigedasleng. Tomos is near tears shouting something at Shel who stands impassive. Shel waits for Tomos to finish, then slaps him hard enough to send him staggering.

“Hey!” Finn shouts, pushing himself to unsteady feet to go to Tomos’ side. “What the hell, man?”

Clarke is up a second later, putting herself between Shel and the two boys.

Shel regards her without a trace of the humour he’s shown the whole trip. “Tomos was upset about being told to go with you. I would have thought he would want more time with his new friends.”

Clarke glances back at Tomos who is supporting Finn and knows that’s not the whole story. “We understand Tomos’ reluctance,” she says as coldly as she can manage, mimicking her mother’s talking to stupid relatives of patients voice. “We were reluctant when we were told we had to leave our families too. Even if this separation is not as permanent. There was no reason to hit him.”

“Sorry, Hainofi,” Shel says with a bow of his head. 

It’s not lost on her that the apology is not to Tomos, but she nods acceptance.

“You and Skaistrecha should prepare to leave,” Shel says.

Clarke has honestly given up on keeping track of his various nicknames for Finn, but she recognises the ‘sky’ at the start. Of more interest is the fact he didn’t phrase it as an order.

 

Kane locates Eric Jackson easily enough. Abby and the mechanic are slightly more difficult.

He doesn’t take any guards, there’s no surer way of causing Abby to run or fight. Kane just wants to talk. The young doctor is understandably hesitant to follow the Vice Chancellor into a secluded corner of an unused factory section, but there’s an air of resigned acceptance about the way he does so that makes Kane slightly angry. It’s not what he wants Jackson to think of him, but if it means he gets compliance he’s not going to make him think otherwise just yet.

Abby and Reyes stare in horror when he appears in the door. It’s almost funny. Especially when they see Jackson and the horror becomes bemusement.

Kane strides forward while the other three stare at each other. “Good, the part Nigelle gave you was the last,” he says, very much enjoying being the only one who knows what’s going on for once. “Jackson will be going with Reyes.”

“Jackson will be _what_?” Jackson squeaks. “Going where?”

“The Ground,” Raven says. “Where else?”

“I didn’t volunteer for this,” Jackson informs them, but he doesn’t say he won’t.

“But apparently you’re willing to volunteer to follow me into a deserted corner without asking what I wanted,” Kane observes and Jackson blushes.

Raven looks about to comment on that, but Abby finds her voice. “Kane, what are you – You know I’m the one going with Raven. For Clarke. They need me.”

“They need a doctor,” corrects Kane. “Jackson is young and isn’t a figure of authority. You’re no good to them if they won’t accept your help because all they see is a member of the Council that sent them down there in the first place. Half of them have had parents floated by us. All of them have any number of reasons to mistrust you.”

“And?” Abby demands.

Kane lets himself soften very slightly. “And I need you to help me find an answer that isn’t killing two hundred of our people. That isn’t saving just seven hundred. I need your brain more than that hundred children need your body. You save more here. Let someone else help them. Let Jackson go.”

Jackson steps up beside him. “It’s okay, Abby,” he says. “I’ll do it. You save people here and I’ll save them down there.”

Kane is quietly impressed at Jackson’s bravery.

Abby would have never agreed otherwise.

 

“Murphy wants _what_?” Wells asks when Bellamy tells him what Murphy had said.

“Total immunity,” Bellamy repeats. “I’m even less happy about that than you are. He _stole_ this chessboard to make a point to us. He’s using intimidation to make sure his hunters get better food. People are scared of him. All you’ve done by taking away _my_ enforcers is give them to _him_.”

“We give him what he wants,” Wells says.

“No!” Bellamy waves a chess piece at him. “This is a game for two players. Murphy shouldn’t even be a factor. He has no right -”

“And if you hadn’t joined us, Murphy would be the one ruling this camp. You’re forgetting whose gang you used to take over. We’re outsiders, Murphy might be a dick, but he’s one of them. People look at us and they see an ex-Guardsman and the Chancellor’s Son. They look at Murphy and they see someone they know, maybe not someone they like, but a familiar evil is better than the unknown. He doesn’t want to challenge us together, but one of us wouldn’t be difficult.”

“And you think he knows all that?” Bellamy isn’t willing to give Murphy that much credit. “All he sees is that he’s got some thugs and thinks he can physically intimidate us. We give in to this and all we’re giving in to is force.”

“We call his bluff and he’s going to call ours,” Wells argues. “He’s right about the public face bit. Right now most people are safe not waving a flag with any of our faces on. If we keep pushing this it’s going to get worse until it escalates to violence. Letting Murphy shove a couple of them around is better than everyone splitting into three factions.”

“I honestly thought you’d turn this down. No hesitation,” Bellamy spits. “What would Clarke think?”

“Clarke isn’t here,” Wells says, “And if she was Murphy wouldn’t be a problem.”

“You really still think that your Princess is going to come riding up on a white horse and save us all from ourselves?”

 

The horse is a muddy brown.

It’s also much much bigger than Clarke had imagined one would be. She glances around to find most of the others are already mounted. Tomos had swung into the saddle in a graceful movement she hadn’t been able to work out the trick to. Finn is lucky enough to only have had to be lifted into a wheeled cart. The horse snuffles at her shoulder and she shies away from it.

“Em can sense you fear,” Kali tells her, already at her side without Clarke noticing her approach.

“Em? Is that her name?” Clarke asks hesitantly, after this morning with Shel she’s not willing to take Kali’s kindness at face value.

Kali laughs. “Em is word that means her or him or it. Easier than remembering which belongs to what. An' her name don’t matter. Em won’t answer to it.”

Clarke gulps and keeps trying to figure out how she’s supposed to get on top of the horse. Finn’s the one with the habit of climbing random things.

“You can go in cart with Skaistrecha if you want,” Kali offers with a smirk that makes it clear that’s an insult.

Clarke immediately shakes her head. “I just need a boost.”

Kali links her hands and Clarke makes it with most of her dignity intact. Nodding in approval, Kali wipes her hands on her armour.

Before she walks off, Clarke asks, “Skaistrecha? Shel called Finn that as well. Is it … something suggestive?”

Kali laughs again. “No, no. Tomos say Finn’s title is Spacewalker. Em is respectful. Sounds better to have a title. Trick people into thinking you important, sha?”

Clarke laughs along, keeping the fact that Hainofi is just as much an empty title to herself. “Sha,” she says and Kali grins at the Trigedasleng.

 

Octavia, Jasper and Monty meet in Helin’s surgery, the same room they’d woken up in. Then it had seemed wondrous, but now the walls feel like they’re closing in.

“We need a boat,” Jasper opens with. “Strangely, I’m not too keen on swimming the distance to the shore.”

“I’m not too keen on rowing a boat,” Monty says, “We don’t know how to do that either.”

“Then we have to get them to row us there,” says Jasper as though that’s going to be easy.

“We’re prisoners,” Octavia reminds him. “They’re not going to take us on a fieldtrip.”

“Maybe not all of us at once, no.” Monty frowns and outlines his idea.

There’s a pause and then Jasper says, “Well, I hate it and it’s never going to work … let’s do it.”

 

“Are you ready to talk solutions?” Kane asks Abby. “Leaving the question of population reduction aside -”

“Population reduction,” Abby sneers. “Call it what it is. The murder of two hundred people.”

“Leaving aside the question of population reduction,” Kane repeats as though she hadn’t spoken. “The Exodus question remains. Give me something.”

Abby shakes her head. “We save seven hundred. Much as I want to take the entire Ark with us …”

Kane stares at her. “Abby.”

“Marcus,” she repeats in the same tone.

“Is there a way we can take the _entire_ Ark with us?”

 

Bellamy and Wells get a lot of complaints about Murphy’s behaviour at first, but when nothing is done about them the complaints stop. The behaviour doesn’t.

The two of them are actually playing chess when Harper McIntyre pushes her way into the tent they’ve started sharing, it's easier than forcing people to choose which of them to go to. McIntyre is one of Murphy’s Hunters, so the look of panic on her face has Wells and Bellamy jumping to their feet.

“Having fun?!” she yells at them. “I’d look for help elsewhere since _clearly_ neither of you care, but Murphy’s going to _kill_ someone!”

 

Tomos guides his horse to walk next to Clarke’s and she smiles at him, if she’d had the ability to get the horse to go anywhere other than just following the others, she’d have approached him hours ago.

“Thanks, Hainofi,” Tomos says, subdued. “But you shouldn’t've challenged Shel.”

“He hit you!” Clarke looks at him horrified. “I wasn’t just going to watch!”

“I shouldn’t've challenged him either.” Tomos won’t look at her at all. “As Shel’s seken I swore to follow his orders, no matter what.”

“It’s just until we get to my people,” Clarke reassures him, “I promise you can go home after that.”

Tomos smiles bitterly. “No. Then I'm Kali’s. Trikru take whatever they want in tribute to their Heda. I don’t know what she gave Shel for me.”

Why do they want you? I mean, you seem like a great guy, but not … not …”

“Important?” Tomos finishes for her. “I'm not. My brother was. He was born Natblida. Trikru take Natblidas for their Heda. Heda-de is always a Natblida and Trikru take all the Natblidas, so Heda is always Trikru. The family of Natblidas can sometimes have Natblida children. If two families of Natblidas come together the child is always Natblida.”

Clarke stares at the boy telling he’s just been traded to be bred for some desirable trait and feels sick. “You don’t want this,” she says and he shakes his head. Clarke sets her jaw. “Then I won’t let them do it.”

 

It’s Jasper who manages to talk his way into someone taking him to shore first, so he gets the easy job. Neither Monty nor Octavia are thrilled by this.

He’d been helping one of the fishas mend nets and the fisha had mentioned he was going to shore to search for a new spot to harvest limpets. Jasper had played the over-energetic kid who’s sick of being cooped up and wants to learn how to harvest limpets and wants to know if they’ll show him how to use the oars perfectly. It helped that it was only half an act.

Jasper is also responsible for organizing a distraction. Neither Octavia or Monty ask what exactly he’s persuading his army of children to do.

Monty is able to gather supplies through his work in the kitchen and it’s not out of character for Octavia to hole herself up in Helin’s surgery for long hours. She stitches waterproof bags from the animal gut Monty provides her. Her mother was a tailor. Monty volunteers to help pack the boat.

When the time for the trip arrives, Jasper continues his act, rushing over to Monty and Octavia to hug them goodbye, then insists on taking the time to hug each and every one of the children he’s been entertaining.

Octavia rolls her eyes at how long he’s taking and goes and sits at the side of the deck. Monty strikes up conversation with the fisha while Octavia fastens the air bladders to the boat. She nods to Jasper when they’re secure and he bounds over to the fisha with a huge grin. He gives a thumbs up to the children who scatter.

Monty sits down next to Octavia. “Ever notice how this plan involves more swimming than you’d like?” he asks quietly.

She just grins at him. “It’s your plan remember.”

Jasper and the fisha are barely a boat’s length from them when there’s a huge splash and shouting from the other side of the buildings. The fisha looks back and sees the entire pack of children have fallen into the lake during some sort of game. There’s little danger, all of them have been swimming their whole lives, but a crowd has gathered to fish them out and scold them for carelessness. The other two Skai children are no longer watching them from the deck, they must have gone to investigate.

“What’s that?!” Jasper asks, pointing towards a bird on the water ahead of them and the fisha turns to answer him.

 

Wells and Bellamy hadn’t thought Harper was exaggerating, but they still hadn’t expected to find Murphy literally presiding over blood sport. He’s built a sort of throne from branches and an intact dropship seat and when he sees them, Murphy jumps up and spreads his unbroken arm in welcome. “Here for the show?” he asks.

Wells punches him in the face and he reels back, blood dripping from his nose.

Bellamy turns to the two kids with knives who moments ago had been at each other’s throats, but now just look slightly embarrassed. He strides towards them and they cringe back even though they’re the ones armed and holds out his hand for the knives. They hand them over meekly enough and Bellamy tucks them both into his belt.

Murphy wipes the blood on his sling, still grinning viciously. “I thought I made it clear what would happen if you stood in my way.”

“Suddenly, I have trouble caring,” Wells tells him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Training,” Murphy spits back.

Bellamy steps close to Murphy, glaring him down. Murphy doesn’t back off.

Then Bellamy pulls one of the knives, pressing the edge to Murphy’s throat.

“Bellamy, no!” Wells yells.

“He’d have sat and watched and laughed when it was his own people like this,” Bellamy says coldly. “Not so funny now, is it?”

Murphy doesn’t answer until Bellamy presses the knife a little harder. “No, it’s not funny.”

“Bellamy, let him go,” Wells orders. “We decide what to do with him together. Have a vot-”

“Float your voting,” Bellamy snaps back. “If a broken arm didn’t teach him, nothing will. It’s like putting down a rabid animal.”

Wells kicks the back of Bellamy’s leg and he folds, knife leaving a scratch across Murphy’s neck and the shoulder of his jacket. When Bellamy tries to stand, Wells kicks him again. “Stay down. You’re as bad as he is.”

Suddenly, Wells is aware Murphy isn’t looking at them any more and follows his gaze. Bellamy naturally checks as well.

A light streaks across the sky, arching to dive into the forest not too far from where they are.

Murphy starts laughing. “The Ark sent us a present. Who wants to go unwrap it?”

 

The Grounders set up camp that night and Clarke falls off her horse. It’s a controlled fall, but her legs fail to catch her. Tomos catches her before she can actually collapse into the mud.

“I was same when I first rode,” he says with an attempt at a smile. “You think it can’t be harder than walking or no one would do it.”

Clarke laughs weakly as he helps her to her tent. Once again the Grounders have given her and Finn a bed to share, even if this one is just some furs on the ground. Finn waggles his eyebrows at both of them from it and Clarke rolls her eyes, more concerned on lying down than exactly where she does so.

Tomos turns to leave and Finn asks, “Aren’t you sleeping with us again?”

“No,” Tomos says, flatly. “I'm to stay in Kali’s tent. I can’t run as easy from there.” He ducks out the tent without looking back.

“Okay,” Finn looks at Clarke, “What’s his deal? We were getting on fine last night. If you know what I mean.”

Clarke shoves in his general direction without raising her head from the pillow. “Shel’s a dick and Tomos is a prisoner,” she explains, killing Finn’s jokey flirtation. “He kind of blames us, I think. Like, he wouldn’t have been here to be handed over if we hadn’t shown up.”

Finn rests a hand on her shoulder. “Clarke, you can’t blame yourself for this. You’re not the one who brought or sold him. You can’t look after everyone all the time.”

“I can try,” says Clarke. “I can try or what’s the point?”

“You keep giving yourself to everyone who needs you and you use yourself up,” Finn tells her in the tone of one who learnt that the hard way. “You have to pick your battles. Right now, there’s a hundred of our people who are in danger if we challenge Kali. I hate it too, I like Tomos, but we can’t prioritize one life over a hundred.”

Clarke feels a tear fall onto the pillow next to her and wipes her eyes quickly, then sits up, muscles complaining. She thinks the last time she didn’t feel like she’d pushed her body to her limit and over was on the Ark. She wants to sleep for a week, but people need her.

“Let me check your bandages,” she asks Finn, needing something she can do now to make her feel less helpless.

“They’re fine, Tomos already redid them,” Finn says.

She feels an absurd urge to scream at Tomos for daring to do that. For daring to care when his own situation is so bad. “I just want to make sure they’re -” Clarke starts, putting a hand on Finn’s shoulder to turn him.

Finn cuts her off by putting his hand on her arm. “I’m okay, Clarke,” he says and he isn’t, it’s so obvious he isn’t, but he’s trying to be strong so she won’t worry.

That bravery, that obvious concern for her well being, Clarke leans forward and kisses him. He makes a little noise of surprise, then he’s kissing her back, pulling her closer.

They can take care of each other.

 

They reach the shore.

Monty and Octavia feel the ground appear beneath their feet and stagger, dragging the boat noticeably. The fisha looks over the side and when he sees them, shouts something in horror. Instinct kicks in and Octavia darts away, slowed by the water, while Monty freezes.

The fisha slumps. Jasper holding an oar in the space he just was. He drops it, jumps over the side to help them drag it ashore. They catch their breath, then each others eyes. Laughing feels natural. It worked.

There’s a groan from the fisha and it brings their joy down quickly. Monty leans over him to check his pulse, while Octavia pulls a mess of fishing tackle over. She starts tying him up.

“Are you sure we should -?” Monty asks hesitantly.

“He’ll be okay,” Jasper claims. “Someone from the village will come looking for him and they know where he went.”

Monty nods and helps Jasper pull out the packs of food he’d hidden in the boat.

Octavia shivers and says, “Why didn’t we think to bring a change of clothes? It’s _cold_.”

The other two look at each other, it’s not like they can turn back now. Monty chews his lip as he assesses the contents of the boat, then starts pulling the fisha’s jacket off.

“We can’t steal from him!” Octavia says, shocked.

“Can’t we?” Monty doesn’t look at her. “That’s our food and bags you’re carrying? Our boat we used to get here? This is just a little more direct.”

Jasper doesn’t say anything, just picks an oiled blanket from the boat and offers it to Octavia. She takes it after a hesitation.

“We’re going to save lives,” Monty reminds them.

 

“No, Wells,” Bellamy says loudly. “The mistake you’re making is in thinking they’re here to help us. If there's anyone on that ship they're dangerous. That’s why I need to take Murphy’s Hunters. A show of force to make it clear they can’t just move in and take over.”

“ _Murphy’s_ Hunters,” Murphy points out. “I say where they go and what they do and I’m not handing them over to a psycho like you.”

“But a psycho who makes them fight with knives for his entertainment is fine?” Bellamy is still only addressing Wells.

“Neither of you are taking anyone anywhere,” declares Wells. “I am taking an unarmed group.”

“You’ve not been out of camp much, have you Chancellor?” Murphy asks, leaving out the fact he hasn’t either. “We have. We hunt. Doesn’t matter what the Ark wants, that forest isn’t safe without something to defend yourself.”

Bellamy pulls his gun from his belt, ending the verbal portion of the argument immediately and automatically winning the physical. “Keep your Hunters. I can deal with this myself. Anyone stands in my way and I use this.”

Wells shakes his head and steps between Bellamy and the direction the ship fell. “I won’t allow you to threaten people who want to help us. Stand down, Blake.”

Bellamy shoots him in the leg.

When Wells can focus on anything beyond the roar of pain, he finds Murphy crouched over him pressing a cloth to the wound. “Bellamy?” Wells asks.

“If you can’t tell us apart, you’re more injured than I thought,” Murphy drawls and it weirdly makes Wells feel a little better. “He took off. What did you think would happen, idiot?”

There’s a lot of questions Wells wants to ask. Why didn’t you go after him? Why aren’t you leaving me to bleed? Who exactly is in charge right now?

Instead, he leans towards Murphy. “Hunt him down,” Wells orders.

 

Clarke wakes much more pleasantly this time. The sunlight through the leaves makes dancing patterns on the walls of her and Finn’s tent. She rolls over to find him lying on his back blinking sleepily.

He smiles at her, bright as the sunshine and she leans over to kiss him. “Morning, Spacewalker,” Clarke says softly and his smile fades a little before returning full force.

“I wish we didn’t have to go out there,” Finn tells her, “That we could just stay here in this moment forever. That you didn’t have to be the Princess.”

Clarke smiles sadly. “People need me. No matter how much I want that too.”

Finn rolls his eyes and sits up just long enough to pull her down on top of him. “Orrr you could look after yourself for once and let them do the same?”

Immediately, Clarke is scrabbling back, panicked. “Finn, be careful! Your back …”

His look of guilt has her re-evaluating her knowledge of the situation.

She raises her eyebrow and folds her arms. “Finn. You are lying on your back.”

“I …” He’s practically squirming under her gaze. “Look I was going to mention it. I told you it was fine. Like when I woke up, Helin told me it was really bad and I didn’t exactly have anything to compare it to to know. It’s my back, I couldn’t look.”

Finn peeks at her from under his eyelashes and winces. “I didn’t figure it out until after I spent the day on the stretcher and my back didn’t feel any worse. And then I thought Helin might have been wrong, but didn’t want to say anything in front of Tomos, because he was just going to tell Shel everything we said. 

“But in the morning, Shel made me think Helin knew it was fine the whole time and I don’t know why she’d lie about that, but it made me certain I couldn’t say anything until we were alone.

“And then we got alone and … things got distracting.”

Clarke’s attitude softens somewhat, there really hadn’t been a chance for him to tell her, but that doesn’t change the feeling of betrayal in her stomach. The way he’s chewing his lip guiltily helps her want to forgive him. “Okay,” she says and he immediately looks more like the puppy who’s been following her than the puppy she'd apparently kicked. “The question is why did Helin lie about that? All it would have achieved is … getting you to stay.”

Finn frowns in confusion.

Clarke closes her eyes briefly. “I- I don’t think Tomos is the only one they sold to Trikru.”

 

They know the dropship and Trikru territory is north so they head north.

Octavia wears the fisha’s shirt like a dress, legs mostly covered by Jasper’s waders and with the oiled blanket as a cape. Monty has the fisha’s trousers and jacket, they’re both too big and his shoes aren’t drying. Jasper has the fisha’s shoes, Monty had insisted he take them rather than give him his wet ones. He’s the only one whose outfit wasn’t soaked through on the trip and he keeps glancing at the other two guilty. He’d made sure to wear the shirt he arrived in.

Earth Day 2052.

They walk.

Sometimes Jasper tries to strike up conversation or Monty points out a particularly interesting bit of foliage, but those times get fewer and fewer as the day wears on.

“You know we could have stayed,” Octavia says.

“No, we couldn’t,” Jasper tells her and strides ahead.

Monty shakes his head at Octavia, but she runs to catch Jasper up.

“They were friendly,” Octavia points out. “We know Trikru aren’t.”

“They won’t be friendly if we go back,” replies Jasper.

“And whose fault is that?”

Monty sighs quietly in the background.

Jasper stops and turns to her glaring. “It’s ours. You didn’t have any complaints when it was a fun adventure.”

Octavia pouts, that’s always worked when she wants to get her way about anything except keeping hidden. “If Monty hadn’t …”

It fails to work on Jasper. “Leave him out of this. If you want someone to blame, start with yourself. You had the same choice we did.”

“I thought we were saving Clarke and Finn,” Octavia snarls. “I didn’t know I’d be wandering lost in the woods with two idiots who don’t even like me!” She turns to storm off.

Jasper catches her shoulders and shoves her round to face him. “I like you, Octavia. Right now, you’re making that pretty difficult, but I do. Monty does as well. And I’m sorry … I’m sorry that you had to grow up with nothing but the stories your family told you. Welcome to the real world. Deal with it.”

Octavia knocks his hands away and looks ready to cry or scream.

“Throw a tantrum when we’re home,” Jasper orders. “If you’ve got the energy for that, you’ve got the energy to keep going.” He turns away and keeps going.

Monty catches up with them and smiles at Octavia a little awkwardly. She stares at him, completely outside her experience. He looks towards Jasper, fond and slightly exasperated. “He can be a bit intense. Just between you and me, it’s a sign he cares. That whole everyone’s friend thing he does, it’s what he does when he doesn’t yet know if he can trust you. You just got to meet him when he’s scared for you.”

Octavia frowns. “He’s scared for me?” When Monty nods, she nods as well with a little smile. “I didn’t know you can – can have new people that do that.”

Monty claps her shoulder and moves on after Jasper. “You’ve got at least three new ones now.”

“Three?” Octavia asks, hurrying to catch up. “Who’s the third?”

“Clarke.”

 

“Okay,” Murphy says, looking round at his Hunters. “Harper, take Sparky and his pet idiot …”

“That’s us,” said idiot informs Sparky who grins like he’s been given an amazing gift.

Murphy continues as though they hadn’t interrupted, “I want you to go straight for the ship, you’re the friendliest. Mbege, you’re leading those in the arc to the right of the ship, I’m taking the left side. If we move fast we might catch Blake before he gets there, otherwise we cut off his escape. I want him brought back alive, beyond that have fun.” There’s a brief pause. “Get on with it. I want to make an example of him.”

Wells limps over to him. “Blake’s dangerous, you -”

“I know exactly how dangerous he is.” Murphy puts his hand to the cut on his throat, breaking the scab, then shows Wells the blood. “I’m not bringing him back alive for you, Chancellor. I’m gonna destroy him. Show everyone exactly how far my mercy goes. Leave him broken and beaten and bloody, like he’s tried to do to me and then I’m going to let him live. With the shame of knowing exactly who beat him. He’ll hate me and he’ll serve me.” Murphy kisses his hand, smearing blood across his mouth and one cheek.

“Great …” Wells says awkwardly. “You go do that.”

 

Clarke doesn’t get another chance to speak to Finn or Tomos until the dropship comes into view. While she’s been away the others have put up basic walls and tents, it’s changed a lot in four days, more than seems possible. They come to a stop about a hundred meters away and she can see a flurry of activity as those there react to the presence of the Grounders. Clarke isn’t sure if they’ve encountered any yet and there’s a part of her that feels a bit smug about making such an entrance.

She looks for Bellamy or Wells, but doesn’t recognize any of the faces ahead. A cold lump forms in her chest as she realizes ‘her' people don’t recognize her either.

Through a gap in the fence, Wells appears and Clarke encourages her horse forward. He’s limping with a crude bandage around his leg, but he also seems to be in charge. She sees the exact moment he realizes it's her and his face breaks into a grin. If he could run, she knows he would. It’s probably best he can’t, Kali might mistake it for an attack.

They meet halfway and both their smiles vanish as they remember Clarke’s father.

“I told them you’d come back,” Wells tells her.

“How long have I been gone?” Clarke asks, keeping the height of the horse between them. “When I left Blake was strutting around shouting about whatever the hell you want.”

“It’s … it’s a long story,” Wells says and looks past her. “Is Finn the only …”

Clarke quickly shakes her head. “The others are all safe. You can tell Bellamy that Octavia is fine, just bored and grumpy about it.”

Again, Wells avoids the topic of Bellamy. “They’re yours, Clarke,” Wells says and when it’s obvious she doesn’t understand. “Your people. I’ve only led them waiting for you to come back.”

“Wells.” Clarke’s tone makes him wince. “How long have you been waiting and what happened to Blake?”

 

Harper finds the ship.

She gestures to Jacob, she doesn’t know why Murphy always calls him Sparky, to go one way with his club ready and to Jason to go the other with his knife. She hefts her spear and approaches warily.

There’s no sign of Bellamy.

The ship isn’t so much landed as crashed.

Harper doesn’t recognize either of the people inside, but neither can be much older than her. That’s a good sign, it means they can’t be too high in the Ark hierarchy. They don’t look dangerous, but then again a lot of people have thought that about her too.

The man opens his eyes, sees her and screams. In seconds the woman is reacting as well, scrabbling at her seatbelt. It gives way and the woman falls, failing to find her balance in time. There’s a smear of blood inside her helmet.

“It’s okay,” Harper says quickly. “The spear … the spear’s for boars and … stuff. Jason, Jacob, get over here. No weapons.”

She directs Jacob to help the woman with her spacesuit, Jason to stand still and not touch anything and helps the man unfasten his seatbelt.

“I’m Harper, Harper McIntyre,” she introduces herself. “I ... we've got a camp, I hunt. This is Jason and Jacob, but if that’s too tricky you can call the one with the club Sparky and the other whatever you want, he won’t answer to it anyway.”

“Jackson,” the man says, taking a deep breath and looking around at the trees in wonder. “Eric Jackson. I’m a doctor. Abigail Griffin sent me.”

“Abby sent _me_ ,” the woman interjects, leaning on Jacob’s club as a makeshift walking stick. “Raven Reyes,” she says to Harper, then continues, “ _You_ were interested enough in Kane’s dick to volunteer for a suicide mission.”

Jackson blushes. “That’s an interesting interpretation of facts. I want to help people as much as you.”

“I don’t want to help people,” Raven sneers, “I’m here for Finn. Float the rest.”

“Finn’s missing,” Harper says. “He went off with Clarke Griffin to get food and stuff from Mount Weather and he never came back.”

Raven nods. “Clarke’s dead. Finn isn’t. I’ll come with Jackson to your camp and then my only priority is getting Finn back safe.”

“Clarke’s dead?” Harper says, horrified. “But that means …”

“Boss isn’t gonna be happy,” Jacob agrees. Harper hasn’t the faintest idea which boss he means. Possibly all of them.

“It means Murphy is going to win,” Harper corrects.

“We work for Murphy,” Jacob says slowly.

“We work for Murphy, because he doesn’t care what we do as long as we hurt the things he points us at.”

“Thrilling as this discussion of delinquent politics is,” Raven interrupts, “Grab the radio and we’re going.”

Jackson clears his throat self-consciously. “Would that be the radio that should be in this hole with the neatly cut wires?”

 

Clarke sits across from Wells in Kali’s tent and stares at him.

Eleven days.

One to Podakru, one there, two back.

Eleven days.

They must have been drugged. Kept sedated and woken one by one to gather information. Once Podakru had enough to sell Clarke to Trikru, they’d woken her, leaving Monty unconscious to keep Jasper there. Finn and Octavia had the excuse of their injuries. Or something like that.

Clarke was sedated, how would she know?

“You heard me?” Wells asks. “I just said that Bellamy is out there with a gun trying to kill whoever came down in that ship and Murphy went after him with a gang of thugs and I don’t know what to do.”

“I’m thinking,” Clarke tells him. “Murphy’s Hunters are the closest thing we have to a militia, we can’t build another from the hundred because he’s already taken everyone who’d be willing. Without a militia we don’t have the force to stand against the Hunters or the gun.”

“Clarke, you rode in with an army at your back,” Wells points out desperately.

“We can’t ask the Trikru to sort out our own mess and I don’t think they’d even care. They want as many of us as they can persuade to come with them to their Heda, I’m not sure why. I also know they’re willing to use force to persuade us if we resist. But that’s a problem for later.”

“Later,” Wells repeats faintly. “The army at our gate that wants to take us prisoner is a problem for later?”

“Yes,” Clarke says. “Along with getting Monty, Jasper and Octavia back from Podakru, contacting the Ark, saving Tomos, finding out what’s got the Grounders so scared of Maun-de, finding out what Maun-de even is, negotiating land so that when the Arkers get here they have somewhere to go and getting some floating sleep.”

Wells looks shocked, she hardly ever swears.

“Sorry,” Clarke says. “We just … one problem at a time. We need to clear up your mess.”

“My mess?”

Her expression dares him to challenge that description again and he backs down.

“We could wait?” Finn says, he’s been being oddly quiet ever since she found he hadn’t told her he wasn’t badly injured. “Let them sort it out and when they come back deal with … with …”

“The survivors?” Wells asked. “Great suggestion.”

“Finn’s right,” Clarke says. “Putting more people into the fight now is just going to mean more die. Neither side is going to be happy with us interfering. Right now worst case scenario … do you know how many bullets Bellamy has?”

“Five?” Wells says, “No, four. He fired it as a signal when the fog came and the other’s in my leg. He might have less, but he can’t have more.”

“Okay. Four bullets, four deaths, plus Bellamy himself, that’s worst case,” Clarke concludes.

“Murphy doesn’t want Bellamy dead, he’ll try to take him alive.” Wells doesn’t sound any more happy about this than the version where Bellamy dies.

“You don’t need a gun to kill someone,” Finn points out quietly.

“Then give us another option,” Clarke demands.

 

Murphy grins when Harper shows up with Jackson and Raven.

Harper gives him their names and occupations, then, “Clarke’s dead.”

He grins much wider at that. “And the others? Octavia, for example?”

Jackson nods, openly horrified at how happy he seems. “She’s dead. Her and Monty Gr-”

“I don’t care,” Murphy interrupts. “If Octavia and Clarke are dead, I’ve won.”

“Bellamy took my radio,” Raven tells him. “It’s the only way we can contact the Ark, let them know they can survive here, stop them floating two hundred people.”

“But Kane-” Jackson says.

“Kane isn’t the only one who wants that.”

“What makes you think I want them to know?” Murphy tilts his head at her, he’s covered in dried blood, Jackson hopes it’s his own.

“I’m a mechanic.” Raven makes an offer she has no intention of honoring if she still wants to go after Finn. “Jackson is a doctor. You get us that radio and you get both of us.”

Jackson starts to formulate a speech about being his own person with his own desires and how he’d really appreciate if people stopped telling other people he’d do things without consulting him first, but Raven elbows him in the ribs and he swallows it. “Sure, whatever,” he says instead. “I mean, no offense, uh, Murphy, but you look like you need a doctor.”

“Whatever gave you that impression?” Murphy says deadpan, covered in blood with his arm in a sling. “Okay, I’ll get your radio, Reryes.”

“Reyes,” Raven corrects him. “And I want it unharmed.”

 

Harper escorts Raven and Jackson back to the camp, because she’d rather float than let Mbege take the credit last minute.

Things are … different from when she left.

For one thing, Grounders exist, so that’s a thing. Apparently a minor thing judging by the fact she’s met by _Clarke_ and Wells. That’s apparently also a minor thing since the second they see each other Finn and Raven rush into an embrace and heated kiss. Harper meets Jackson’s eyes and they share a shrug.

May as well just roll with it at this point.

“But you’re still wearing your bracelet,” Raven says, once she’s explained at least some things.

“We were … underwater for a while, some must have shorted out,” says Clarke, as though that statement doesn’t raise another million questions to the one it answers.

“And you sent Murphy to get the radio?” Clarke asks, then turns to Wells. “Did something happen while I was gone to make you all think Murphy might be competent at doing anything besides maybe picking his nose?”

Harper doesn’t know Clarke amazingly well, but everyone who does seems more taken aback at her anger than if this was usual. The jab at his competence is fair enough, but bringing his nose into it is just unnecessary.

“Jackson,” Harper says, turning to her most likely ally, “Wells took a bullet to the leg. Would you be okay with looking at it?”

It breaks Wells away from Clarke and Finn and Raven go off alone and the tension nearly vanishes.

Harper notices Clarke looking at her curiously though.

 

It’s Murphy that finds Bellamy.

It was always going to be.

He knows him too well.

He finds him on a riverbank, staring into the water.

Bellamy turns at the noise of Murphy’s approach and trains the gun on him.

Murphy holds up his empty hand. “I just want to talk, Blake. Got some real interesting news.”

The gun doesn’t waver. “Tell it then.”

“Clarke’s dead,” Murphy tells him.

Bellamy hears the other half just as clearly. Octavia’s dead. He lowers the gun.

“Wow, Blake,” Murphy takes a step closer and the gun remains away. “I knew you were a coward, but if I’d known that was all it’d take to get you to fold, I’d have told you so sooner.”

“You’re lying?”

“No. You know I’m not.” Murphy takes another step. “I’ve never lied to you, Bellamy, you’re just too busy lying to yourself to believe me.”

Bellamy looks at the gun, twists the barrel towards himself.

Murphy doesn’t take the next step. “Yeah, I thought that’d be your first answer. Coward’s way out.”

“I’m not a coward, Murphy,” Bellamy says, almost believable.

“You are. Not an obvious coward. You’re not afraid of pain or anger or danger. You’re afraid of people.” Murphy takes another step. “I mean, fair enough, they’re pretty fucking terrifying. So you wrapped yourself up in lies. A nice little hole under the floor to hide yourself in. And then I came along and saw you. The you you don’t even really believe in. That scared angry child that likes hurting things. No wonder you’re afraid of me.”

“It’s not you I’m afraid of, Murphy,” Bellamy says and turns the gun in his hand, feeling the weight without his finger on the trigger.

“Never said it was only me.” Murphy is almost close enough to reach out and touch him now, but he doesn’t close the final distance. “You’re scared of the child too. What she’s going to ask you to do next to protect her. She’s dead, Bellamy. You’re free.”

“Octavia,” Bellamy whispers. His hand closes with purpose around the gun.

He throws it as hard as he can into the river.

Bellamy looks at Murphy and holds out his empty hands, wrists crossed. “I already threw the radio. Call your Hunters.”

 

When Murphy leads an uninjured bound Bellamy into camp, himself with no new injuries and all his Hunters with as little clue how it happened as anyone else, it’s taken as a miracle. The leading theory is that Bellamy and Murphy made a deal together against Wells, but how that translates to Murphy shoving Bellamy to his knees in front of Wells and Clarke no one knows.

“I didn’t get the radio,” Murphy tells them, ignoring Bellamy’s betrayed glances that had started the moment he saw Clarke. “He’d already dumped it in the river. Dumped the gun too, the idiot.”

Bellamy struggles and stares at Clarke desperately, unable to speak through the gag. She takes mercy on him. “Octavia’s fine. She’s with Jasper and Monty at Podakru, they’ll keep her safe until she can join us or you can join her.”

Bowing his head, Bellamy starts crying.

Murphy bites back the stupid urge to tell him he didn’t know. Doesn’t matter, it worked. Would have worked even if he knew it was a lie.

But he wouldn’t have tried it.

“Don’t I get a reward?” Murphy asks, mockingly. “I’m even handing him over all peaceful like. I could keep him. Get my pound of flesh before whatever you want to do.”

Clarke looks disgusted.

Good. He’s disgusting.

“Go see Jackson,” Clarke orders.

Murphy isn’t going to argue.

Everything hurts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, Wells, what *did* you think would happen? That Bellamy would go 'oh, no, my mistake, sorry' and back down?
> 
> Player: Bellamy  
> Achievement Unlocked: Jahas Shot 2/2
> 
> Player: Murphy  
> Achievement Unlocked: Villain Monologue
> 
> Player: Wells  
> Achievement Unlocked: Being Too Sane For This Nonsense


	3. Tekamin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tekamin – witch, lit. technology master, from tech admin.
> 
> You get one guess to work out who that is.

They find and mend the radio, but not quickly enough that they don't have to watch as two hundred and twenty bodies are dropped into the atmosphere.

Each one burns like a shooting star.

Clarke wishes on each of them.

Finn says that's what you're supposed to do.

She doesn't wish for him back.

The Grounders refuse to let them use flares to try and stop this. There’s some resentment around the camp, but not much, half of them still believe Bellamy about being abandoned. The other half have benefited from Raven or Jackson or still have family up there.

There’s delays in leaving with the Grounders. Apparently Trikru has just as much issue with internal politics. First, a woman arrives named Indra who is introduced as the Wocha or Chieftain of the closest village Tondisi and then a woman named Anya who is introduced as Heda’s Wormana or War Chief. It seems there’s some debate about who gets credit for bringing Skaikru to Heda.

And over who gets the responsibility if they turn out to be trouble.

Kali claims to be the first of Trikru to discover them, but that would require giving Podakru some of the credit. It’s Indra’s land they’re on, but the fact she had no idea they were there is working against her. Anya pretends to be there to adjudicate, but if she’s the one to escort them through the gates of Polis she’s the one who will be remembered.

And they all have different ideas about what to do with them. Death, removal or acceptance.

So while that debate rages in Trikru’s camp, the Delinquent camp have something like peace.

Clarke reassigns the Hunters to Miller and Murphy doesn’t fight it. No one calls them Miller’s Hunters. They're his Guard.

Jackson obtains a shadow, Tomos, who spends his time sharing what he knows of Podakru medicine and absorbing Skaikru information like a sponge.

Finn avoids Clarke, spends his time hovering over Raven until she snaps at him to give her space and then vanishes into the woods for hours on end.

Clarke talks to her mother, both crying. Abby tells her about her plan to save everyone on the Ark. Clarke hides the radio from the Grounders.

There is no word from Monty, Jasper and Octavia.

Clarke is studying a map Trikru gave her, trying to work out why it cuts off so abruptly right before it would cover Mount Weather, when Wells ducks into the dropship and sits opposite her without waiting for an invitation.

“We need to talk about Murphy,” Wells says at the same moment that Clarke says, “We need to talk about Bellamy.”

Wells doesn’t add anything more, allowing Clarke the choice.

“Yours first,” Clarke concludes. “Murphy is still roaming around free to cause problems. Bellamy will keep.”

They turn out to be the same conversation anyway.

“I have no idea what Murphy will do next,” Wells admits, “Bellamy seems to have had a serious reality check, he’s showing remorse at least, but Murphy is just carrying along as he always has.”

Someone snorts quietly at that and Clarke looks over. “Something to add, Harper?” she says, wincing a little at how much she sounds like her old maths teacher.

Harper must have had the same teacher, because she grins and comes over. “If you think Murphy doesn’t give a shit, you’re not paying attention or you’re paying attention to what he wants you to see.”

Clarke looks at Harper in interest and gestures to a seat at their table.

Taking it, Harper continues, “He’s plenty messed up about this. He went too far and now he’s trying to pull himself back. That or he’s given up, I’m not sure. Murphy hasn’t talked to any of the Hunters since he brought Bellamy in. All he does is sit around scowling, pick fights which no one wants to take him up on and drink Grounder moonshine.”

“No one wants to fight him?” Clarke asks.

“They’re all scared of him. Like, different scared.” Harper shrugs. “We all knew he was a dick, but no one knows what he did to Bellamy. The Hunters that were there, all they saw was Bellamy holding his wrists out to be tied, no fight, no argument, nothing. No one wants to be next.”

Clarke smiles. “Thank you, Harper. People overlook you, don’t they.”

Harper nods. “Gives me time to watch them.” She leans in to speak more quietly. “You don’t need to be scared of Murphy. Not unless you act against him first. It’s Bellamy that’s dangerous. Wells, you were running for your life at the time, but did anyone tell you how Murphy broke his arm?”

“Yeah,” Wells says, “Bellamy saved my life from him. Weirdly, I have trouble seeing how that supports your claims.”

“Bellamy didn’t ask,” Harper tells him, “He saw Murphy’s hand on the lever and his instinct was to break his arm. No hesitation. No ‘hey, Murphy, could you not?’ No ‘wait.’ Just ‘Wells is out there,’ then broken arm. Bellamy had been acting like he wanted you dead, it was a reasonable assumption. Moments before, they were working together to get everyone inside safe and then Bellamy turned on him. For you. Bellamy made himself a threat and Murphy did whatever it took to make him harmless, but whatever it was, it hasn’t worked. The second he saw you, Clarke, Bellamy started fighting again. Once Bellamy is free, he’s going after Murphy and Murphy will respond as he always does and I don’t think it’s going to end without much more blood this time.”

“Okay,” Clarke says, she trusts the judgement, it fits her own observations, though Harper has more evidence to base them on. “So what do I do to stop it?”

Both of them look at her blankly.

Clarke sighs. “So I know exactly what’s going to happen, but there’s nothing I can do to stop it?”

“Short of executing Bellamy, no,” Harper says.

“Or Murphy,” Wells adds.

“That’s not on the table,” Clarke says firmly. “Can’t we just keep them apart?”

“How?” Wells picks up a cup and fiddles with it. “There’s a hundred of us.”

“… Podakru,” Clarke says quietly. “We send Bellamy to Podakru where Octavia is. Keep Murphy here.”

“Exile?” Harper shakes her head. “Bellamy won’t accept that. Not as a punishment. Not if Murphy is pardoned.”

“Then we make it a reward,” Clarke decides.

Wells sighs. “You know that still doesn’t tell us what to do about punishing Bellamy, right?”

 

There’s a rustle of gossip about the Grounders bringing in a prisoner. No one knows who it could be and the general consensus is that it’s Trikru business.

The gossip doesn’t reach Bellamy.

It doesn’t need to.

They put the prisoner in with him.

It’s immediately clear that the Grounder man didn’t come easily. He’s been beaten, cuts showing on his dark skin better than the bruises, both mixing with tattoos. He’s a wall of muscle, silent as he’s thrown to his knees, unbowed even though they don’t unchain him.

Bellamy is scared of him.

He knows what he himself did to end up here, but has no clues on the other’s crimes. Bellamy might have been disarmed and guarded, but he’s not bound any longer. Even so he can’t help but see the chains linking the man’s arms as a weapon. Cutting into Bellamy’s neck, unable to get enough air to scream for help.

Dying in this tent and never seeing Octavia again.

Never getting to tell her he’s sorry.

That he’s sorry he betrayed her.

He’s sorry he heard of her death and felt relief.

Because no one could hurt her any more.

Because he could stop.

He can’t stop.

“Lincoln,” the Grounder says.

Bellamy stares blankly.

“Ai laik Linkon kom … ai laik Linkon.”

Bellamy hasn’t picked up much Grounder, but he’s surrounded by it. They’d insisted in holding him in the Grounder camp instead of at the dropship. His guards talk, Grounders walk by talking. He couldn’t avoid it if he wanted.

He does want.

He knows the Grounder just said his name was Lincoln and that he has no clan.

“I’m Bellamy,” Bellamy says, refusing to answer in kind. “Bellamy Blake. I come from the Ark, but that’s not my home. The Grounders aren’t my people, the Arkers aren’t my people and the Delinquents aren’t my people.”

Lincoln blinks slowly at him and Bellamy realizes he might not speak English.

“I. Am. Like. Bellamy,” Bellamy says, clearly and slowly. “Whatever. Neither of us are going to live long enough for it to matter.”

Bellamy flinches away as Lincoln stands, but he just goes to the bucket of water and cups his hands to splash some over his face.

For some reason Bellamy feels compelled to fill the silence. It’s not like it matters if Lincoln can’t understand him. “So, what did you do? I tried to kill someone … to be fair he’d tried to kill me first … and some other people … he tried to kill Wells and I broke his arm. He’s still out there though. Free to hurt whoever he wants. I was just trying to protect people.”

“So was I,” Lincoln says.

 

Wells leans on Harper as he limps to the tent Jackson has claimed as his surgery, while Clarke goes back to figuring out what the Grounders want. Harper suspects the Grounders don’t know that exactly either.

Jackson starts tending to Wells’ leg and Harper watches. She’s good at that.

The Grounder boy who acts as Jackson’s shadow is there. Thomas.

He’s interesting.

Thomas doesn’t fit into the picture she’s built. He’s a Grounder, but he’s not one of the three factions in the Grounder camp. He wasn’t even part of them when it was only Kali. Him and Clarke have been shooting Finn betrayed glances, but Thomas is also aiming them at Clarke. His choice of Jackson to follow must be important, but she really can’t see how or why. Harper thinks he might not be local, his medical knowledge skews towards plants and injuries that don’t quite match the environment he’s in. Less trees, more drowning.

Harper smiles at Thomas. “Hi, uh, Thomas?” she says, “You came in with the Grounders right? What’s … what’s it like in their villages? Clarke and Finn are the only ones who’ve got to see one and …”

He didn’t seem to notice her standing there. She gets that a lot. Thomas smiles back. “I’m not from Trikru,” he tells her. “I’m from Podakru.”

“Oh! The ones who found Clarke and Finn and the others?” Harper doesn’t miss the little flash of sadness at the mention of Clarke and Finn.

“Sha, yes.” Thomas is all smiles seconds later. “I came with them to tend Finn’s wound, but now it's healed and I'm not knowing what to do. So I do what I can for Fixer Eric.”

It’s not the whole truth. Harper sees his homesickness and if he’s no longer useful here, there’s no reason for him to stay. Especially if he feels Clarke and Finn did something to betray him.

He’s Trikru’s prisoner.

So is she.

 

“They caught Lincoln!” Finn says desperately, bursting into Raven’s workshop.

Raven looks up. “Who the hell is Lincoln?”

“He’s …” Finn stares at her in the realisation he hadn’t told her. “You know how I’ve been going out into the woods a lot? Lincoln is a Grounder I met.”

“Is he at least pretty?” Raven jokes. “I’d hate to think you were seeing an _ugly_ Grounder behind my back.”

She knows that look of guilt.

Any trace of humour at the situation vanishes. “You’ve been cheating on me? With – with some Grounder _you met in the woods?!_ ”

“No,” Finn says quickly, “no.” He can’t lie to her though, at least not when it isn’t a lie of omission. “I didn’t sleep with Lincoln.”

Raven isn’t letting it rest at that. “Who did you sleep with then?” She squeezes her screwdriver tightly.

“Clarke,” Finn whispers and the screwdriver narrowly misses his ear. “Raven! I didn’t … she kissed me first … I didn’t …”

“Get out,” Raven snarls. “Find someone else to bat your eyelashes at so they’ll help you with your pet Grounder. Try Clarke if she’s so accommodating.”

“Clarke didn’t know!” Finn says, automatically leaping to her defence.

“Clarke didn’t what?”

Finn backs up a couple of steps. “She didn’t know you … were … were with me.”

Raven closes her eyes and counts to ten, but when she opens them Finn’s still there trembling. “You do understand how that’s worse?”

He nods.

“Get out,” she snaps. “I won’t miss next time.”

 

Harper finds Clarke still pouring over the map. She drops into the seat opposite and leans in to hiss, “We’re prisoners. Trikru has no intention of just leaving us here, not even Kali.”

Clarke doesn’t even look up, just says absently, “I know.”

“You know?” Harper doesn’t keep her voice down and a couple of people glance over. She pulls back control over the volume and they lose interest. “Were you planning on doing anything about it? Or telling anyone? Clarke, _everyone_ knows what you were imprisoned for. Suddenly you’re the one in charge and telling the truth stops being important to you?”

“It’s not like that, Harper,” Clarke claims, keeping her voice low and serious. “The moment I know what they want from us and what I can do to stop it, I’ll tell everybody.”

Harper stands and looks down at her with disgust. “Your father didn’t wait until he had a solution. If you won’t do the right thing this time, someone has to.” 

She turns away and Clarke grabs Harper’s arm. They stare at each other for a moment, then Clarke lets go.

She’d be a hypocrite if she couldn’t.

 

Bellamy hears raised voices outside and shoves Lincoln.

Lincoln just lies where he is, but at least he opens his eyes.

“You could look concerned about anything, ever,” Bellamy tells him.

Lincoln shrugs like a mountain stretching. “What good would fear do? It'll happen or it'll not.”

Bellamy rolls his eyes. “So you won’t do anything to change things?”

“I'll do what I can and not worry about what I can't,” Lincoln says calmly.

“Real zen.” Bellamy isn’t impressed. “You can understand them, it’s a little worse if it’s a mystery.”

“They're saying the witch can't come in,” Lincoln translates and closes his eyes.

“The witch?” Bellamy asks.

Before Lincoln can answer a woman pushes her way into the tent. It takes Bellamy a moment to recognise her out of a spacesuit and conscious. The woman from the crashed ship.

The one whose radio he stole.

Bellamy backs away as far as he can go, but it’s Lincoln the woman, who must be the witch, approaches. She drops something on Lincoln’s chest and his eyes snap open.

It’s one of the bracelets that tracked the Delinquents’ vital signs.

“Raven,” Lincoln says.

“Oh, of course,” Raven spits. “He told you all about me. Well, you can tell him to shove this up his ass.”

“Okay,” Bellamy says and wishes he hadn’t because Raven’s glare snaps to him. “I’d just really appreciate some context here. How do you know each other? Who is this he? Why do you have one of those bracelets?”

Raven scoops up the bracelet and stalks towards Bellamy who is now really wishing he’d kept his mouth shut.

“I’m talking about Finn,” Raven snarls, shoving the bracelet into his chest. 

Bellamy doesn’t catch it and it clatters on the floor.

Finn? What does Finn have to do with ... anything at all?

“Pick it up,” Raven orders. “You wanted it before. When you tried to get him to take it off. Not caring about all those families who would think their loved ones were dead. I saw how much it hurt Abby and she only thought Clarke was dead because hers shorted out. You did that to people deliberately.”

It’s not high on the list of things Bellamy thought Raven might be angry at him about, especially since it had been Finn's attempts that had given him the idea, but there’s something more important. “The bracelets shorted out? Clarke’s bracelet shorted out? How?”

“Urgh.” Raven looks disgusted. “Of course all you care about is precious Clarke Griffin. When did anyone care about anything else? Yeah, some of the bracelets didn’t survive underwater. Finn’s did, thankfully. He gave it to me, because it brought me back to him. Bastard."

Bellamy isn't stupid enough to touch any of that.

“Did Octavia’s?” Bellamy asks.

Raven looks at him slightly differently. “Oh, right, the girl under the floor is your sister. It shorted out, yeah. You got lucky not being up there.”

Bellamy shakes his head. “When did you find out they weren’t dead?”

She shrugs. “As soon as I got to the camp and Clarke was there. Why?”

“Okay,” Bellamy hesitates to say the next question. “You sent Murphy after the radio. Was that before or after you got to camp?”

“Uh.” Raven has to think. To her it's not important. “Before, yeah, before, because Harper -”

“Forget Harper,” Bellamy tells Raven, then shoves past her to sit on the low bench and stare moodily at the floor.

Murphy hadn’t lied.

He just hadn't known the truth.

Bellamy barely notices Raven leaving.

 

Finn goes to Wells first.

He’s certain he doesn’t have a chance getting Clarke on his side.

They play chess and Finn tries to get Wells help without actually telling him what with. It goes poorly.

“So, what makes you so sure this Grounder prisoner is innocent? If I'm supposed to speak for him,” Wells asks, putting his hand on his Queen.

“I wouldn’t do that.” Murphy drops into the game uninvited and unwelcome.

Wells ignores him and moves his Queen, taking Finn’s Castle.

“It’s a traaaap,” Murphy says in a sing-song tone.

Wells keeps his finger on his Queen. “No. It isn’t. He doesn’t threaten this square.”

“Not until he moves this lil’ guy.” Murphy taps one of Finn’s Knights. “Then he threatens that square and all the ones you could retreat to.” He looks far too smug for someone who has just irritated both sides of an argument.

“Float off, Murphy,” Wells says, tossing his Queen down and scattering the pieces. He’s the one to leave though, shoving Murphy’s shoulder on the side with the sling.

“What the hell?” Finn asks. “Why? I was going to win that until you interfered.”

Shrugging, Murphy picks up Wells’ Queen and spins it between his fingers. “Because I could. And he doesn’t need his Queen to win, he just thinks he does.”

“Are you talking about Clarke?” Finn snatches the piece from him and sets it back on the board upright.

Murphy grins. “Welcome to the doghouse, Spacewalker. Everyone heard your argument with Reyes. She stormed off in the direction of the Grounder camp and no one knows why. Not when Clarke is right there in the dropship.”

Finn starts setting up the chess board for a new game. “Because she wants to talk to Lincoln … the Grounder prisoner they brought in. I know him.”

“And you want Wells to help you rescue him. Why? You screwing him too?”

“What do you want, Murphy?” Finn asks, not willing to have a debate about his sex life with Murphy or indeed anyone, but Murphy is worse.

“I want to help you,” Murphy tells him. “Don’t trip over yourself in gratitude.”

“And what do you want in return for helping?”

Murphy pretends to look shocked, but answers, “You’re not going to be on the bottom of the shitpile long. I’d appreciate your help to do the same.”

Finn assesses him. Murphy wouldn’t be his first or even hundredth choice for help, but Finn’s plan requires a distraction and if there’s anything Murphy’s good at it’s putting on a show.

“Okay,” Finn says. “I need you to organize a distraction tonight. While you do that, Tomos is going to lead me through the Grounder camp. I cut through the back of the tent, get Lincoln out and he and Tomos leave.”

“Not a _bad_ plan,” Murphy tells him. “Tomos is a mistake, you should have gone with Harper, but if he knows already …”

“Tomos is a lot more trustworthy than _you_ and why would Harper know the layout of the Grounder camp?” Finn counters.

“One condition,” Murphy tells him. “I can get you a distraction, but I want to be in the group cutting into the tent.” His smile sends shivers down Finn’s spine. “It’s where they’re keeping Bellamy.”

 

Clarke makes the announcement that evening.

Harper had spread the word that something was happening, so Clarke steps out of the dropship to a reasonably large crowd. She knows this is the right thing to do.

Even if it kills them all.

Miller quiets the crowd, his Guards are mixed in and armed. Clarke didn’t ask him to do that.

There’s some noticeably missing faces.

Finn and Raven must be off reconciling, she thinks with a stab of pain. Wells hadn’t wanted her to do this, so his absence isn’t a surprise either. She’s slightly glad Murphy didn’t bother to show up.

Harper meets Clarke’s eyes and smiles encouragingly.

“There’s something I need to tell you all,” Clarke says, feeling almost silly. “We’re – we’re not as free as it seems.”

That’s when the fireworks go off.

 

Raven throws herself into her work, the dancing sparks and wires something she can control.

Something she can fix.

She doesn’t think about Lincoln. She doesn’t think about Clarke. She doesn’t think about Finn.

Time passes without her. There’s nothing but the tech.

Explosions startle her out of her mindfulness. Shoving her protective glasses up her forehead, she ducks out of her workshop to investigate.

The Grounder camp is on fire.

There’s panic and Raven sways, unsure if she can help, where to go or what to do.

“Tekamin!” someone shouts and suddenly her arms are grabbed.

Raven struggles, not understanding what’s happening or where she’s being dragged.

The Grounders stare at her.

Tekamin.

 

Murphy had certainly delivered on the distraction.

Finn hits him, slapping ineffectively at his defensively raised arm. “What part of _distraction_ made you think _burn their tents down?!_ ”

“I didn’t!” Murphy raises his hand in surrender. “I just gave Sparky and the Idiot ingredients for fireworks. They’re good at making stuff explode. Especially if it’s not supposed to.”

With one last shove, Finn stops. “You call one of them the Idiot. How could you not have predicted they’d screw it up?”

“Because even if they screw it up, it’s a damn good distraction,” Murphy points out. “And they’re too stupid to point the finger at me. And we should go. Now.”

Finn groans and gestures to Tomos to lead the way. He knew teaming up with Murphy was a bad idea.

 

The Grounders drop Raven at Clarke’s feet.

The crowd hasn’t dispersed and Kali kicks Raven’s feet out from under her so she drops to her knees.

“Hainofi.” Kali has a much better public speaking voice. “You Tekamin has burn the tents of Trikru. What sentence do you give?”

“Raven?” Clarke asks, softly. “Is this true?”

“No, I -!” Raven shouts, only for Kali to kick her to get her to be quiet.

Clarke feels the same sensation she had when Shel had hit Tomos, a sort of settling like a cloak on her shoulders, pushing her posture straighter. “Kali kom Trikru,” Hainofi says, “Your accusation is severe. What proof do you have that my Tekamin was the one to carry this out?”

Weirdly, Kali grins. “No proof, Hainofi, but em _magic_ is unpopular. Perhaps this was accident. We hope. But unless someone is punished for this, Anya will move against your people and more will die. You have until dawn to find alternate scapegoat or I'll kill the Tekamin to save you all.”

 

Murphy cuts into the tent while Tomos and Finn keep watch around nervously. 

“Evening, Blake,” Murphy says and Finn quickly joins him inside.

Bellamy has his fists up and Murphy is still holding the knife, but Lincoln is holding Murphy.

“It’s okay,” Finn says, though he’s very tempted not to, “he’s with me.”

Lincoln drops Murphy none too gently and he scrabbles up, backing to the side so his back isn’t to either Lincoln or Bellamy. “Look at that,” Murphy says mockingly. “You are screwing a pretty one. Prettier than Reyes at least.”

“Our deal is done, Murphy,” Finn tells him, checking Lincoln over for injuries and deciding his chains will have to wait until they’re clear. “Stay out of our way.”

Bellamy is starting to feel like he’s the least informed person about literally everything. “Finn, you’re here for Lincoln? Why? Where will you go?”

“Like he’d tell you that,” Murphy sneers, “when you’d just use that information to benefit yourself.”

Finn is honestly less happy with saying it in front of Murphy, but … “Podakru. Tomos is outside. He’s running too.”

“I want to come too,” Bellamy says with certainty. “Octavia is with Podakru.”

Murphy snorts, but Finn nods. “I’d come with you, but Clarke and Raven are here.”

“Can I come too?” Murphy asks sarcastically. “Or do you need at least one girl you’re obsessed with to join the kru?”

Bellamy steps towards Murphy and claps him on the forearm, the one in a cast. “No, you just need a basic grasp of good and bad. You’ll never pass that test.”

Murphy spits at him.

Bellamy backhands him across the face casually. “Come near me and mine again and you’ll think I was merciful.”

Lincoln puts a hand on Bellamy’s shoulder and guides him out the tent after Finn.

Murphy opens his hand and his knife falls to the ground.

 

Clarke insists on dabbing at the cuts and mud Raven has picked up with a damp cloth herself. Raven knocks her hand away and takes the cloth herself.

“I’m sorry, Raven,” Clarke says and isn’t sure if she’s talking about Kali, Finn or something else completely.

“Not your fault,” Raven says, shortly. “Unless you’re behind the burnt tents.”

Harper ducks into the tent and reports, “No one will give me a name, but it was an accident. They were trying to make fireworks for fun. I could make an educated guess at who specifically is responsible, but that’s not what you want. You need someone to blame, not the culprit.”

“Any good news?” Clarke asks and Raven snorts at the idea there could possibly be any of that.

“I may have one bit,” Harper says slowly, “Murphy hasn’t been seen since this afternoon.”

 

Tomos betrays them.

They exit the tent to four of Kali’s guards. Lincoln is the first to react, looping his chains around the neck of the nearest and twisting to a horrifying crack. Bellamy responds by instinct to the noise, drawing a sword from the waist of the one on the opposite side of the loop, sliding it into the woman’s gut and out again. The guards hadn’t expected a fight and Lincoln takes down a second before Bellamy closes with the last. Between them they make quick work of it.

Finn clamps his hands over his mouth, eyes wide and struggling not to run. The only place to run is back into the tent and Murphy.

Lincoln nods at Bellamy, who breaths heavily and wipes blood off the sword.

Tomos sees them turn to him and bolts, only to crash into the chest of the newest arrival.

Wells puts his arms around him comfortingly, automatically, looking over his head at the other three.

“Wells?” Bellamy asks. “Are you with Finn too?”

“No,” Wells answers, avoiding looking at the bodies. “I knew he was planning something stupid so I followed him.”

“I’m right here,” Finn says, bizarrely offended.

“We all need to not be here now,” Lincoln says.

Bellamy claps Finn’s shoulder with the hand not holding a sword. “Good luck with Raven,” he says as though he didn’t just kill someone and Finn’s relationship issues are in any way his biggest problem in the moment.

Murphy emerges from the tent and stares at them all. “What the hell? I thought you’d be long gone. Fuck -” He sees the bodies and reels back. “I told you Tomos was a bad call,” he snarls at Finn. “Get out of here!”

Finn bolts. Lincoln jogs to Wells and Tomos and the three of them retreat in a different direction. Bellamy hangs back for a second to say something to Murphy and that’s all it takes.

More guards arrive. More than Bellamy can fight.

He throws down the sword and raises his hands.

Beside him Murphy raises his one hand. “Excuse me, uh, I’m not with him.”

 

A panicked Finn bursts into Clarke’s tent, followed by Harper.

Raven and Clarke look at him and he just kind of splutters at them.

“Okay,” Harper says, putting a hand on Finn’s shoulder to guide him out of her way. “You know how I said no one had seen Murphy …”

 

Hainofi stands over Bellamy and Murphy. Neither of whom are looking nearly sorry enough for Raven's taste.

“I’m telling the truth,” Murphy says, “only person I tried to kill tonight was Blake and I properly fucked that up, didn’t I?”

“Shut up, Murphy,” Bellamy hisses at him.

“Who was the accomplice who burned down the tents?” Clarke demands, but both stay silent. Great time for either of them to grow a sense of loyalty.

“It could have been a coincidence,” Wells suggests at her side. “I know it’s unlikely …”

“Stop helping, Wells,” Clarke orders, “either they give me a name or Raven gets blamed.”

“Raven?” Finn asks. “Why would Raven …?”

“Because they think I’m a witch,” Raven spits and Harper puts a calming hand on her shoulder.

“I did it,” Finn says immediately.

Murphy groans and rolls his eyes.

“Is that a problem, Jonathan?” Clarke asks. Surprisingly, that actually seems to cow him slightly.

“No one’s going to believe it was Finn, not when they’re blaming Raven,” Murphy tells her, with only minimal sass.

“We don’t need them to believe it,” Hainofi replies. “They don’t care who did. They just want someone to punish.”

“So, that’s it?” Finn asks. “No one’s even going to try and talk me out of it? Remind me what an incredibly dumb heroic idea that is?”

Clarke turns and walks towards him, making him shrink back. “Is that what you want us to do, Finn?” she asks. “So you can change your mind? Say, oh, you’re right, that’s a bad idea, let’s find an alternative? Because the alternative is Raven’s death. So, which is it Finn? Do you want to avoid your own pain or save Raven? Choose.”

Finn ducks his head and whispers, “Raven. Every time.”

Murphy smirks past her at Finn, “Looks like you do get some of those consequences you’re so fond of avoiding.”

Finn is shaking and pale, glancing over at Raven for comfort.

She refuses to look at him.

She knows he’s guilty.

 

Monty wakes in a bright white room in a bright white bed and a bright white hospital gown.

He is alone.

 

They use the top floor of the dropship as a prison. Clarke isn’t handing anyone over to the Grounders again. Miller organises a guard and locks it personally.

Finn, Murphy and Bellamy sit in awkward silence for about a second.

“Well, your plan went perfectly,” Murphy sneers at Finn.

“Says the person who set the Grounder camp on fire.” Finn is too scared to hide his anger.

“It worked as a distraction!” Murphy argues. “If you hadn’t wasted time we’d all have got away as well as you did!”

“Wasting time?” Finn splutters. “We were killing people!”

“Because that’s better than just lazing around doing nothing?!”

“Well, that’s what you were up to! What, get bored halfway through? Decide to take a nap in the prison tent?”

“Will both of you shut up,” Bellamy tells them, pulling his cut restraints off his arms and putting aside Finn’s monitoring bracelet that he’d used the broken edge of to cut them.

Finn immediately holds out his arms for Bellamy to untie him as well, but Murphy pulls away. “Are you both suicidal?” Murphy demands.

“Maybe you’re willing to lie back and take it,” Bellamy retorts, “but Lincoln and Tomos are still out there and they’re going to take me to my sister.”

“You’re still on the Octavia thing?” Murphy asks and is about to say something he’s well aware he’ll regret later when Wells pulls himself through the hatch in the floor. “Oh, great. We needed more idiots in here. Did you knock out the guards or just gut them?”

“Miller is still outside and conscious,” Wells tells them, dropping a bag on the floor with a clunk. “Told him I wanted one last chess game with Blake. Clarke made sure not to use anyone loyal to any of you, but he's still loyal enough to me.”

Finn rubs his wrists, the marks are already fading, he hadn’t struggled and no one felt the need to tie him particularly tightly. “If you’re not here to rescue us, why are you here?”

“To make sure we’ve all got our story straight,” Wells answers, not commenting on the cut bonds beyond a raised eyebrow. “If you don’t match or fit the facts it’s my ass on the line then.”

“But you have no problem with it being ours?” Murphy drawls, attempting to settle comfortably when it’s clear no one is planning on untying him.

“Better you than me,” Wells says darkly. “You’d do the same.”

Murphy shrugs at that. “Okay, what’s our story?”

Wells nods at Finn. “Finn knows nothing, he’s innocent, he’s literally only here to protect Raven. Murphy, you organized the distraction with your accomplice. When asked say accomplice as sarcastically as possible and glance at Finn. Don’t use his name or incriminate whoever actually did it.”

“This is sounding an awful lot like me taking all the blame,” Murphy says. “I’m innocent.”

Bellamy can’t help but laugh at that.

“I am,” Murphy protests. “The things they care about are the burnt tents, the dead guards and Lincoln and Tomos’ escape. I’m not responsible for any of that.”

Finn looks ill and Wells rolls his eyes, then says, “Murphy, you’ll confess to going after Bellamy. Say that was your whole plan. Threatened Tomos into showing you through the camp and cut into the tent to get to Bellamy. Only you didn’t know there was anyone with him. Lincoln and Bellamy overpowered you and they ran.”

Murphy smirks at Bellamy and says sarcastically, “Okay, _now_ I like this story.”

Bellamy flips him off.

Wells clears his throat. “Tomos betrayed Murphy and you were met by guards. Lincoln attacked and Bellamy, you were forced to defend yourself when the guards assumed you were dangerous as well. Three of the dead have chain marks on their necks and you weren’t the one in chains. The fourth you can claim as self-defense. Lincoln ran with Tomos, you have no idea where and you didn’t want to follow him, because he just killed people. That’s when Murphy recovered and joined you and you were both caught.”

It’s not lost on Murphy that it paints Bellamy in rather a better light than either Murphy himself or reality, but it’s believable. Besides there’s no chance Bellamy is going to confess to murder. Also it doesn’t require Murphy to confess to anything he isn’t actually responsible for.

“Sure” Murphy says, “I’ll do it and I know my accomplice,” the heavy sarcasm and sideways glance at Finn are perfect, “agrees.”

Finn nods, but Bellamy hesitates.

“Blake, this only works if we all do it,” Murphy points out. “Go after Octavia now and you’ll have half the Grounder army on your heels. Wait, take the punishment and you can leave without anyone caring.”

Bellamy nods. “Okay. I’m going to regret this, but okay.”

“Wouldn’t be an effective punishment if you don’t regret it afterwards,” Harper says, stepping out of the corner she’d noticed was concealed from both the hatch and anyone on one side looking towards the hatch. “Now that we’ve established what’s not true, how about you tell me what is.”

All four know she’ll repeat everything they say to Clarke.

They end up telling her everything.

 

Clarke goes to the radio alone. It’s a relief that her mother is the one to answer.

“Clarke!” Abby says. “It’s always so good to hear your voice.”

“You might not think that when you hear what I have to say,” Clarke replies wryly. “Is anyone with you?”

“Just me,” Kane says. “I can go if you want to talk to your mother in private?”

“No.” Clarke shakes her head even though they don’t have video yet. “I actually wanted both your opinions on something.”

“What is it, sweetie?” Abby asks, concerned.

“How – how do you choose between justice and truth and protecting people?” Clarke asks, finding tears forming.

“Oh, Clarke,” Abby says softly. “I’m so sorry. I made a very difficult choice and what happened to your father - it’s my greatest regret. I’m sorry you had to find out -”

“What?” Clarke manages. “No, I, what? What do you mean?” She fiddles with her father’s watch on her arm.

There’s silence, then Abby tells her the truth. That she’d been the one to report Jake. That she’d tried to make a deal for his life and Clarke’s protection, but Kane and Jaha had broken it. That she understood why they had. That she didn’t blame them, just herself for failing to persuade Jake into an alternate choice.

That Wells hadn’t betrayed her.

Once Abby is finished, Clarke doesn’t answer for she’s not sure how long.

It takes Kane gently saying her name for Clarke to burst into hysterical laughter, sobbing through it, “Oh, of course, because this choice wasn’t hard enough when I hated Wells.”

“What choice, Clarke?” Kane asks, because clearly Abby is in no state to do so.

Clarke has trouble mustering the energy to care about her mother’s emotional state right now. “Okay, but I want you not to interrupt me until I’ve said the whole thing. It’s … complicated and there’s a lot you don’t know. The Grounders, they’re not as friendly as I may have given the impression they are. No, I said no interruptions. Honestly, they have no idea what to do about us. There’s three factions in their camp. Anya wants us dead, Indra wants us alive, but gone and Kali thinks we could be useful allies. I can’t do or say anything that might change Indra or Kali’s minds.

“To ensure that … I have to punish three of my people. They’re guilty, but not of the crimes they’re specifically accused of. If the whole truth came out, I’d have to – to make the sentence … lethal.

“And then there’s Wells. He’s involved too, but announcing that would make the whole story fall apart and probably my entire support base. The hundred are going to be unhappy enough about this without adding someone popular. Finn will be considered a martyr for love and there’s enough ill will towards Murphy and Bellamy that I can do … whatever I do without causing too much dissent.”

Clarke takes a deep breath. “There’s other stuff going on, but that’s the main parts. … What do I do?”

She knows it lacks a lot of detail, but she needs an opinion as unbiased as possible.

“Bellamy?” Abby asks. “Bellamy Blake? He nearly killed the Chancellor.”

Okay, maybe an unbiased opinion isn’t available.

 

Wells leaves the chessboard so Finn and Bellamy play a couple of games, neither with their full attention on it, until Bellamy gives up and lies down with his back to them and fails to convincingly pretend to sleep.

Finn is still full of too much nervous energy to even pretend to rest, so he turns to Murphy. “You want a game?”

“I don’t play,” Murphy says. He’s been leaning against the dropship wall unmoving since Wells left. Sometimes his eyes are open, sometimes not. Currently not.

“Why not?” Finn asks, he doesn’t really care, but it’s better than dwelling on the morning.

“Because I always win.” Murphy opens his eyes lazily, his expression making it clear he doesn’t expect to be believed.

Finn doesn’t believe him. “If you don’t know the rules I could show you,” he offers.

“I know how the pieces move and stuff, just about,” Murphy tells him. “I’d just rather not be accused of cheating right now. We both know who’s guilty of that.”

Finn ignores the jab, now actually curious how far Murphy will go to hide the fact he clearly doesn’t know the game. “How do you win then? If it’s not some strategy?”

“Because I don’t play chess. I play my opponent.” Murphy gives him a look that makes it clear he thinks Finn is the stupid one here. “I can look at just about anyone and tell you what strategy they’d use before the game started.”

“No way,” Finn laughs. “Prove it.”

“Okay.” Murphy sits up, apparently willing to accept that challenge. “Wells, you know his playstyle already. Too much focus on his Queen, but he refuses to risk her. Take his Queen and he thinks he’s lost already. Raven, I assume you’ve played her. Aggressive player, always attacks, but you get her on the defensive and she falls apart. Bellamy,” he says slightly louder just to make sure Bellamy knows they’re talking about him, “tries to sneak pieces past your line while making a big fuss about his Queen. She’s mainly a distraction you can safely ignore, he’d never risk her doing anything useful.”

Finn stares at him, somehow he doubts Raven has played against Murphy and he’s seen both Wells and Bellamy use those exact tactics. Raven is the oddest though, Murphy wouldn’t have had a chance to ever watch her play. She doesn't enjoy chess.

“What about me?” Finn asks curiously.

Murphy smirks. “Traps.”

Finn scowls back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you lure people in with your adorable, heroic gentleman act and then … well, it’s not your fault they didn’t know, you’d have told them if they’d asked.”

That hits a little too close to home for Finn’s comfort, proving Murphy’s point. “So, what?” he says defensively, “You don’t know anyone who could win against you?”

Murphy considers that for a moment, then concludes, “Clarke. But that’s not because I can’t read her. She’s a reactive player, figures out your strategy and does whatever it is that beats it. I don’t know the game well enough to have a strategy. If I cared enough to learn, I’d lure her in with one strategy and then twist it into another last minute. A trap.”

“Still doesn’t explain why you won’t play,” Finn points out, trying to move away from anything that involves Murphy telling him uncomfortable things Finn doesn’t want to acknowledge about himself. “You could hustle people. No one would think you’d be any good and then you use your skill …”

“Because it’s not a skill,” Murphy snarls. “Best case it’s something I can use to hurt people, worst case they accuse me of cheating or lying. Seeing that stuff, the stuff people don’t want you to … it’s never brought me or anyone anything but pain. But, hey, it’s all I’ve got going for me.”

Finn doesn’t say anything to that, but Murphy doesn’t seem especially offended. Instead he quirks his eyebrows and kicks his feet up onto the seats Bellamy is lying across, close enough his boots brush Bellamy’s lower back when he breathes in.

Bellamy is up in seconds, knocking Murphy’s feet aside, one hand to his throat and kneeling on one leg, foot planted between Murphy’s legs. Murphy’s casual slouch doesn’t change.

“I get it now,” Bellamy says coldly. “You want this. You’re trying to get me to hurt you. Clarke is going to beat us tomorrow and you can’t even wait that long.” He lets go of Murphy’s neck with a shove and a disgusted look. “Floating masochist.”

Murphy just grins at him. “Nope. Only got two guesses left. I’m not the one here who likes pain. You like inflicting it.”

It sounds like bullshit, but then again a lot of the things Murphy says that are true do.

Finn looks between the two of them, half fascinated, half not wanting to be in the shrapnel zone.

“Come on, Bellamy,” Murphy says. “I’ve never knowingly lied to you. If I’m going to admit this is what I want, why wouldn’t I admit the reason?”

There must be something Finn is missing, because Bellamy seems to accept that argument.

“You never do anything that doesn’t get you something you want,” Bellamy spits. “Why the hell would you want my anger otherwise?”

Murphy closes his eyes and leans back against the wall. “Why would you care why I want it? Gives you an excuse to hurt me. Still got two guesses.”

“Okay, let’s test this not a masochist theory.” Bellamy has his hand in a fist, but since that's what Murphy apparently wants he doesn't hit him. “Explain or tomorrow I say I took that sword out of your hand.”

It’s not a bluff.

Murphy knows that.

He still hesitates.

“Looks like my guess was right first time,” Bellamy says.

“No,” Murphy says softly. “It’s because it’s better than being ignored.”

Bellamy stares at him. Finn doesn’t know what he expected, but it wasn’t that.

“I don’t like you, Blake,” Murphy tells him, “You kind of disgust me. I see every part of your twisted personality, all that stuff everyone ignores because you’ve been lying your whole life. There’s only two kinds of people you care about, useful ones and threats. Oh, and Octavia. When we met, I made the mistake of thinking you saw me, instead of just seeing me as useful.

“It felt good. Seeing and been seen in return. Good enough I let myself trust you. If you could see me as I am and still want me around … I could forgive a lot for that.” Murphy takes a deep breath, keeping his eyes closed, saying it out loud feels like stepping off a cliff, seeing the rocks below and hoping he’s lucky enough to fall between them. “I let myself fall in love.”

There’s silence as Finn and Bellamy try to figure out a reason Murphy would ever admit that if it wasn’t true.

Murphy opens his eyes when they don’t say anything, smiling bitterly. “Course you turned out to be even worse than I thought. You didn’t see anything I didn’t show you. You just thought you could use me. And then you betrayed me.

“You decided Wells was more useful, no idea what you wanted him for. Broke my fucking arm and all I wanted was you to forgive me when I’d done nothing to deserve it. The arm or the forgiveness.”

“You … you were jealous of Wells?” Bellamy asks, bemused.

“I guess.” Murphy has gone well past the point of no return. “Of the attention you gave him. I knew you’d never trust me again, not when you’d made it clear you held no loyalty to me, so I made myself a threat. So you’d care. Care that I existed.

“And I was honest. Let you see whatever of me you cared to. I shouldn’t have been surprised when you didn’t like what you saw either. But I couldn’t let you go. I’m selfish enough to kill you rather than let you not care. But you do care. Not kindly, not without pain, but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep you noticing. To keep you looking at me.”

Bellamy wants to look away, but there’s a hint of tears in Murphy’s eyes and he wants Murphy vulnerable, to see to his core as Murphy does to others so instinctively. If Murphy wants to give that to him, all the better. “I don’t like you either and I sure as hell don’t love you,” Bellamy says. “But you’ve got my attention.”

“Good enough,” Murphy drawls.

“Why didn’t you run with him?” Finn says, reminding the other two that he’s still in the room. He looks uncomfortable, but fascinated. “Either at the tent or now?”

“He offered at the tent,” Bellamy says slowly, “said it sarcastically enough I thought it was a joke at the time, but I don’t know about now.”

There’s a strange mix of fear and joy in Murphy’s expression. “Do you want to know?” he asks.

Bellamy considers it, the new information has confused his perception of Murphy, he’s not sure if this makes him useful or a threat. The more he knows the more likely it is he can use it. “Yes.”

There’s almost guilt at how happy that makes Murphy, even if his tone is still antagonistic. “Because you’re not the center of any universe, not even mine. Or yours for that matter. That’s Octavia’s place. Because I need to go out there tomorrow, tell as much of the truth as Wells has allowed and take my punishment for it. Because if I do, maybe this time it’ll be enough to stop me next time. Maybe next time I want to hurt someone I won’t. Maybe if enough people believe me, I can start leaving stuff out, I can start using the truth to … do something other than hurt.

“Maybe I can go tell Harper that Mbege isn’t over her and if she took him back, he’d swear to never hurt her again or I can reward Jason and Jacob for helping me. Right now, I can’t, because I know Mbege’s promise will only last until Harper accidentally makes him jealous and I know that there’s people who would hurt Jason and Jacob if I showed any sign of caring about them.

“But if I did that for them, I’d have their loyalty. People I can trust to watch my back without needing to watch them. And I’d cause them more pain in the long term. It’s kinder to push them away from me.

“If I’m hurt enough, I might be able to stop caring about their pain.”

Bellamy feels sick. Murphy isn’t allowed to be more noble than him. Murphy is the monster. The one who hurts people and enjoys it.

He should be happy that he cares. He should be kind.

He isn’t.

Bellamy pushes Murphy away, making a dignified retreat to the opposite side of the room. He expects anger or upset, but Murphy just looks tired.

“Wow,” Finn says into the silence, “and I thought my relationship was messed up.”

No one laughs.

 

Harper brings Wells to Clarke after Clarke’s conversation with Abby and Kane. It had gone in circles for some time, Kane advocating lying severity and Abby honest leniency. Clarke is horrified to find herself agreeing more with Kane. Besides she suspects Abby’s position is partially based in wanting her daughter to forgive her.

Clarke gestures for Wells to take a seat at her table, but doesn’t sit opposite as she normally does. She remains standing. There’s never been a question of who holds all the power between them, but they’ve always kept an illusion of being equals before.

“So,” Clarke says, she won’t use Hainofi, not for this. “You’ve been lying to me.”

“I have,” Wells admits easily. “To avoid forcing you to make this exact choice. Between truth and justice and the people you love. Whatever you do, it’ll cause you pain. I want to spare you that. I planned to tell you everything once it was over.”

“And letting me believe you were the one to betray my father?” Clarke asks and he startles. “Was that to spare me? Wells, when were you going to tell me that?” She can’t keep the hurt out of her tone, she doesn’t want to try.

Wells shakes his head. “There’s no better time to tell someone their mother … I couldn’t do that to you.”

“Then you don’t know me very well,” Clarke tells her childhood friend angrily. “I’d take a painful truth over a kind lie every time. I’ve never lied or hidden anything from you.” Kane had advised her not to let it get personal, but there’s no way of claiming it isn’t.

“You’ve always been better than me,” Wells says quietly. It’s hard to be angry with him when he just accepts it.

Clarke drops into the chair opposite him, trying to restore their balance. “I’m not going to tell anyone about you helping Lincoln and Tomos,” she informs him. “Apparently, I’m not much better. I’m just as willing to lie to protect you. I’m just not willing to lie to you.”

“You can’t,” Wells says, distressed.

“I can,” Clarke says, calmly. “One day you’re going to have to wake up and realise I’m not your perfect princess.” She hadn’t been lying about painful truth over kind lie. “You don’t love me, Wells, you love this version of me you’ve invented. She doesn’t exist. I thought you respected me, but you worship me. I can’t be your god. I can be your leader. I can even be your friend, but not until you make some effort to actually get to know me.”

She’s broken him, can see it in the slump of his shoulders, but she loves him too much to leave him there. Clarke wants to put him back together.

She likes fixing people.

“Wells,” she says more gently and he looks up at her searching for a second chance. Nothing will change if she just hands it to him. “There’s also the matter of your part in Lincoln and Tomos’ escape. I’m not angry at you for helping Tomos, I’ve been looking for a way to do the same. I thought sending Bellamy to escort him to Podakru - but that’s not an option now. Lincoln on the other hand - do you know anything about the man except that the Grounders think he’s dangerous, he killed three people and he’s Finn’s friend?”

Forced to shake his head, Wells stops looking hopeful.

“When you began suspecting Finn was going to do something, something that would affect our standing with the Grounders, you should have come to me. We could have confronted Finn before he acted, find out his reasoning and work out a solution from there.” Clarke takes a deep breath, she’s going to need Hainofi after all. “Your crimes are not against our people or the Grounders. They’re against me and me alone. Therefore your punishment will be carried out by me and me alone.”

 

Monty doesn’t know where he is.

It’s not Grounder or at least not Podakru. It couldn’t be more different. It’s sterile, undecorated beyond a neatly hung painting on the wall. The painting is of a stylized night sky, a tower cutting up on one side, the stars uncomfortably close and bright. Monty likes it. He tilts the painting at an angle, breaks the perfect, unnatural way it’s been hanged, and likes it more.

He wonders if the painter was scared too.

What of.

Maybe they didn’t know either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that plan could have gone better.
> 
> To be fair, the mission objective of freeing Lincoln was met.
> 
> Success?
> 
> No one comes out of this looking good.
> 
> But on the plus side stuff is getting distinctly kinkier.
> 
> Player: Murphy  
> Achievement Unlocked: I Just Want To Watch The World Burn  
> Achievement Unlocked: Confess to Senpai
> 
> Player: Bellamy  
> Achievement Unlocked: Baby's First Kill
> 
> Player: Wells  
> Sorry, you've already unlocked the achievement Being Too Sane For This Nonsense.
> 
> Player: Finn  
> Achievement Unlocked: Ironic Heroic Sacrifice
> 
> Player: Thunder  
> Achievement Unlocked: Chess Metaphor are Inherently Unsubtle


	4. Setneshona

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a tricky one to translate. It's an original status/title. Just trying to make sense of the formal layout of the Grounders. (Because canon left me with questions like: Why does Indra take over Trikru? Why is it established that they don't do gendered titles, but then Roan becomes Hainhefa not Haiplana? How does the seken/seda system work? Why do the words translated as Prince and Princess literally translate to High Number Four and High Number Three? Why is Lexa Trikru when the Commander must be neutral? How can it be that all clans have been led by the Commander since Bekka, but this Coalition is new and Lexa's invention?)  
> So, Setneshona. It roughly translates to Chief of Security or Head Bodyguard, though neither are quite accurate. A high ranked warrior who advises on internal affairs in their leader's army, as opposed to on the enemy. There's a danger of desertion from say low morale, this is the guy who brings it to the heda's attention. The warriors know they can go to them with concerns and he'll speak for them.
> 
> In this case that guy would be Nathan Miller.

This place is old. On the Ark they recycled everything. Things were used and reused and reused and made into something else and the cycle began again. Here they seem to have just kept the old and pretended it was as good as new.

It must be a bunker. A place from before the end of the world where people huddled together and survived. They’re still huddled here. Surviving.

He knows about a place that fits that description. A place they’d been told they could find supplies.

Looks like someone beat them to it by a hundred or so years.

“Good morning, Monty,” says Dante Wallace. He’s an elderly man with a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes, a suit that looks older than he is and an air of being far too pleased with himself.

Monty doesn’t believe him.

“You’re not very curious, are you Monty?” Dante asks as he sets a tray of food at the end of Monty’s bed, then sits so if Monty wants to get to it he has to come closer. “Don’t you want to know what else your friends told me besides your name?”

Monty doesn’t move towards the food. “I already know.”

Dante’s surprise might be genuine, but he overplays it. “You already know they’ve betrayed you? At least you’re not deluded enough to think they wouldn’t.”

“You don’t know anything more,” Monty tells him. He’s certain of it. He’s been here before. Him in one cell and Jasper in another, both being interrogated by some weaselly bastard who thinks that just because he’d sell his own mother they would too. It had been Monty’s fault. His failure to replace the plants they’d taken. Neither boy had given the guard anything he didn’t already have. They’d gone to the Skybox together.

Monty doesn’t plan to change that this time.

He’s slightly less sure of Octavia, if only because he’s never been in the exact situation with her before, but he also knows that when her mother was floated for the crime of having her, they hadn’t been able to pin anything on Bellamy. If there’s anything her family taught her it’s how to keep her mouth shut.

“One of them asked for me when they woke up,” Monty says. “The boy. You wouldn’t be sure which of us was Monty if it had been the girl to ask. And using that information relies on being certain. You can lie about what you know or don’t all you want, I’m giving you nothing.” He doesn’t blame Jasper for the slip, he knows it wasn’t immediately obvious they were going to be interrogated.

Dante is looking at Monty with calculation in his eyes. “You’re a clever boy,” he says, changing tact as obviously as a traffic light changed from green to red. He’s lying, but Monty knows it’s true. “Cleverer than your friends. We want to help you and we can’t do that if you don’t tell us anything about who you are and where you came from.”

There’s something specific that Dante wants. Something he already knows about them that makes them valuable. Monty has no idea what that could be. “We fell from the sky,” Monty tells him, sarcastically, making the truth sound absurd.

Dante laughs. It rings false, but it’s the response Monty wanted. “And funny, too,” Dante compliments him.

Monty is tempted to tell him he’s a moron, but suspects he’d be better off letting Dante believe he’s winning. “Yeah, I’m a riot,” he says, deadpan.

Smiling fondly, but with a hint of exasperation, Dante pushes the food tray slightly further towards Monty. “You should eat before it gets cold,” he says, making it clear he’s not going anywhere soon and if he does the food goes with him.

Considering, Monty decides to take the bait and shuffles to the tray. He could grab it and retreat, but instead he leaves it where it is, accepting Dante’s proximity.

“You know,” Dante says in the tone of one who is well aware the person he’s addressing has no possible way of knowing, “I have a son. Cage.”

Monty wonders if it’s a family tradition to name your child something obviously evil.

“He doesn’t have a son,” Dante continues and a bit of mashed potato sticks in Monty’s throat as he realizes where this is going. “When I die he will take over as President, but when he dies …” Dante shrugs. “A smart boy like you could be ruling Mount Weather one day.”

Monty hates it when he’s right.

 

Tomos needs to rest long before Lincoln thinks they’re far enough away to stop.

The boy flinches away when Lincoln approaches, so he crouches in front of him. “Hey, we can’t stop here,” Lincoln says gently in Trigedasleng. “We need to be far away enough before they come after us that the faster horses can’t cover the distance.”

“East or west?” Tomos asks.

“East or – what? We’re going south, to Podakru.” Lincoln studies the boy, mostly just finding exhaustion and fear.

“We can’t go to Podakru,” Tomos says. “That’s where they’ll go first to look for me. Besides, Finn’s friends are no longer there. They ran. I couldn’t tell them until I’d got away. Trikru will know I was the one to tell them. I won’t lead Trikru right to my family.”

Lincoln can’t argue with that, but he doesn’t have an alternate suggestion. East is deeper into Trikru territory, right through land regularly patrolled by gonas from Tondisi that will recognise Lincoln by sight. West is the Mountain. It’s not an easy choice. Lincoln considers sending Tomos east alone, but even if Indra’s gonas wouldn’t kill him on sight, there’s also no chance they’d let him pass freely.

“West,” Lincoln concludes, he knows the area better than most, even if it was figured out no one would want to follow and Tomos has four scars indicating kills, he’s a trained gona just with minimal experience. Between them they should be able to avoid or fight off any Reapers they come across.

He doesn’t tell Tomos about the danger.

 

In truth, Clarke isn’t alone, she’d started to ask Harper to stay to support her and Harper had agreed before she’d even finished the question.

If Harper wasn’t unobtrusively in the corner, Clarke knows she’d never be able to go through with it. She half expects Wells to laugh at her when she orders him to bend over the table. He’s never laughed at her cruelly or in disbelief before and he doesn’t now. Instead he obeys.

Corporal punishment wasn’t unheard of on the Ark, every guard carrying a baton they could use either for impact or electricity. Clarke had only ever seen the end result of this, until the day they tried to take her father’s watch away and replace it with a monitoring bracelet. She’d learned to treat shocklashing before she’d ever experienced it.

They don’t have any batons on the ground.

They are however, surrounded by trees.

Clarke’s never held a baton before, but she can’t imagine it weighing more than the switch does. She’d picked the lightest of the options Harper had managed to walk right through the center of camp with without raising any curiosity. Logically, she knows it’s almost weightless.

Half of her thinks it’s best to get past any distaste or reluctance in private before she’s forced to do the same publicly. The other half thinks she wouldn’t be feeling it if it wasn’t Wells.

“I – I need to see what damage I’m doing,” Clarke tells Wells, unable to make it an order. It takes him a moment to figure out what she means, then shoves his trousers down to mid thigh, hunched and eyes fixed on the table.

It’s nothing she hasn’t seen before, even for the privileged on the Ark modesty was an unaffordable luxury. Clarke’s pretty sure he’s not trying to hide signs of arousal, signs of fear are more likely, then again until today she’d never have thought he’d lie to her.

“Will your leg be okay?” Clarke asks.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Wells says immediately, “Can we just get this over with?”

“Wells,” Clarke says and he winces at her tone. “Now is really not the time to lie to me.”

He winces again, she’s never questioned his honesty before. “It really is fine. I’ve got my other leg and the table to keep weight off it and it’s almost healed anyway.”

“Tell me if that changes at any point,” Clarke orders, much more comfortable with instructions that are related to self care. Maybe she just needs to look at this as a different kind of care, there’s plenty of treatments that on the face of it seem like harm. “I’m going to give you six for lying and then four, one for each of the deaths you tried to conceal the truth of.”

It’s lenient and they both know it. Wells doesn’t argue either way.

She won’t be able to be lenient when she gets to the other three.

Clarke glances over at Harper who raises her eyebrow in an expression Clarke can’t quite identify, but it helps. She hears the noise of the first strike before it’s properly registered that she’s even swung.

Wells jerks, instinct telling him to escape, but remains where he is. “One, thank you, C-clarke,” he says quickly.

It take Clarke aback, she hadn’t expected him to do anything but endure. Thanking her for this was something she’d assumed he’d never do. She decides not to tell him to stop, if it helps him deal with the pain, humiliation and whatever else Wells is feeling about this, she’s not going to deny him that just because it makes her a bit uncomfortable.

He continues counting with the second hit, hands opening and closing, then finding the opposite edge of the table to cling onto. Clarke knows she’s not hitting half as hard as she could, any lines that appear fading almost immediately. She forces a bit more strength into the third and fourth, but Wells doesn’t make another involuntary noise until the sixth.

Clarke pauses, knowing the last four are for a much more severe crime, but it’s not personal.

“Sorry,” Wells whispers and Clarke realizes the tremble in his shoulders is from trying to hide that he’s crying.

There’s no pause between the last four, Clarke swinging hard and fast enough that the pain of them registers all at once. Wells stops trying to hide his tears.

Clarke drops the switch and pulls him up into a hug, petting his back and feeling like a complete monster. She’s vaguely aware of Harper picking up the switch and breaking it, turning it into nothing more than a handful of kindling. There’s a certain amount of gratitude in Clarke’s eyes when she meets Harper’s eyes, she’s not sure she’d have been able to touch it again.

Harper gives Clarke a thumbs up and slips out of the tent. She’s on damage control now, see if anyone heard anything and if they did confuse the rumors enough that no one would think the truth plausible.

Clarke is also on damage control.

She helps Wells to his makeshift bed, it had been his tent first and then when Clarke had shown up, he’d already had another cot set up on the opposite side for her. Taking it had been easier than arguing or trying to establish an entirely new command center. Now she’s glad for it, it means Clarke doesn’t have to leave Wells alone while she tries to get a least a couple of hours sleep before the nightmare she’s going to have to face in the morning.

Right now she isn’t planning on going out of physical contact range until he asks her to.

Wells makes a little hiccup of protest when she tries to get him to lie down. “I’m not going anywhere,” Clarke tells him firmly, “I’m right here. Lie down before you get cold and you’ve been on that injured leg more than you should today already.”

He smiles through the tears at her fussing. “Ow,” he informs her. “Let’s never do that again.”

“Don’t lie to me and we won’t,” Clarke promises, carding her hand through his hair, then tugs his blankets over him.

Wells hisses and squirms until the sting from the light pressures settles. “I - I’ll try,” he says eventually.

It’s not a promise.

Clarke isn’t sure she’d believe one right now.

 

Miller blocks Raven with an apologetic look. “Sorry,” he says, “I know Finn’s in there to protect you, but I can’t just …”

Raven just stares at him blankly for a moment before remembering the official story. “I’m not even sure I _want_ to see him,” she confesses. “I’m here for Murphy.”

“Murphy?” Miller leans back against the ladder, intrigued. “I mean heavily questioning your taste there, but they’re all in together, so …”

“Whose genius idea was that?!” Raven splutters, “Sure, let’s take two people who have been trying to kill each other since - well definitely longer than I’ve been on Earth and stick them in a confined space overnight with - with someone well known for his escaping habit.”

Miller shrugs. “Harper says …”

“What does what Harper says have anything to do with anything?” Raven asks. She’s not trying to start an argument, but she wouldn’t be disappointed to get one.

Sadly, Miller seems to have too much self-control to give it to her. “Well, Clarke’s in charge and Clarke listens to Harper, for whatever reason, so I listen to Harper too. She’s pretty perceptive actually, gave me a couple of tips on - something. A problem I have.”

That sounds like some interesting gossip to Raven and right now she’d love to hear about a problem that doesn’t involve the danger of death. She takes a seat a couple of feet away. “Okay, you tell me about your problem and I’ll tell you why I want to talk to -” she shudders melodramatically, “- _Murphy_.”

“No one ever wants to talk to Murphy,” Miller jokes, not inaccurately. “And you’re a great mechanic and all, but this thing isn’t easily fixable.”

“I want to talk to Murphy to persuade him to turn on whoever actually burnt down the tents,” Raven tells him. “Now you have to tell me.”

Miller laughs. “I’d have thought he’d turn on them already, unless he has some reason to want to see Finn go down for something instead.”

“I don’t know. There could be a reason. Apparently, there’s a lot of stuff Finn hasn’t bothered telling me about.”

“Oh, right, he … cheated on you while you were still on the Ark,” Miller says, considering. “Maybe you can help me. So, you know Jackson? Stupid question, you arrived with him …”

“I don’t know him much,” Raven admits. “That was the first time I’d ever met the guy.”

“Well, you know of Jackson as a concept.” Miller waves his hand vaguely. “So, he’s great. Really, really great. He patched up my second in command, Jones, and I just froze, couldn’t remember how words work. I think I was actually blushing.”

“So, ask him out,” Raven says, not seeing the problem. “You’re cute, he’s cute, tell him he’s cute and - well, there’s not much you can do on a date down here, but there wasn’t much on the Ark either and we managed.”

Miller looks down guiltily. “Yeah, I did manage on the Ark. Bryan is still up there.”

Oh. Now Raven sees why she might be well positioned to advise on this. “Tell them,” she says, immediately. “Tell Bryan all about the cute doctor over the radio. See what he has to say about it. I don’t know if Jackson has noticed your crush or feels the same, but worst case it’s awkward and he gets all professional around you. I’ve been in Jackson’s position too, with a …” she looks for a way to describe Wick that doesn’t include the term ‘slimeball,’ “co-worker. Long as you back off if he says he’s not interested, he’ll probably mainly be flattered. No one’s going to be upset at you for having eyes or feelings and if they are, screw them, you don’t need that shit.”

“It’s not like I think Bryan’s going to leave me over this,” Miller says, knowing she’s right, even if never ever acknowledging it would be way easier. “But what if Jackson is interested? Harper - Harper says he is, but I …”

“Tough call.” Raven actually feels sympathy for him in a way she absolutely hadn’t for Finn. “I know what you don’t do. You don’t sleep with Jackson without telling him about Bryan and then not tell Bryan until he figures it out on his own.”

Miller winces on her behalf. “Suddenly feeling a lot less bad about both my choices and imprisoning Finn for a crime he didn’t commit. I’ll talk to Bryan next chance I get to use the radio, thanks.”

Raven is getting on well enough with Miller and is upset enough with Finn to lean in and lower her voice to say, “This is kind of a secret, but it only matters if someone high up on the Ark hears about it.”

There’s no disguising the interest on Miller’s face and he leans in too.

“You know the whole Spacewalker thing? Finn wasn’t the one to do it. I mean it was his idea and he organized it, but I was the one in the suit. It was an eighteenth birthday gift, I’d been told I couldn’t be a zero grav mechanic because of a medical thing and there’s nothing like a spacewalk.” Raven leans back, spreading her hands. “Stuff went wrong and he saved my life and then went to the Skybox for it, so ... so no matter how angry I am at him right now, I can’t just leave him to float in my place.”

Miller takes the few steps to her and crouches in front of her, putting one hand on her shoulder. “You’re not leaving him to float,” Miller tells her. “Lot of people who’d been hurt by someone would want to see them punished, even if not for the right thing. Taking the whole blame was good of him, but he wasn’t innocent either, not when it was his idea. If you’d both been caught and the truth known, he’d have gone to the Skybox anyway. That wasn’t your fault.”

Raven almost wants to cry. “He isn’t innocent this time either,” she says. Miller is being so kind and understanding and honest and …

She tells him as much of the story as she knows.

 

Dante gives Monty a suit.

He kind of hates it. He’s never worn one before and he has no idea how to make the tie work so he leaves that on the bed. The suit is navy blue and he thinks it makes him look washed out, but that might just be the fluorescent lighting, fear, malnutrition or exhaustion. Monty doesn’t tuck in the shirt.

Octavia and Jasper are in the dining hall when Monty arrives. Neither of them have been given formal clothes. Jasper is in jeans and a pale blue button up, while Octavia is in a dated even a century ago faded yellow floral dress. She looks _wholesome_. It’s a far cry from the damp haired urchin in waders and a muddy man’s shirt or the flirtatious teenager stripping down to her underwear to jump in the river.

She still has the same scowl though.

Once they’ve finished hugging and checking each other for injuries, Jasper holds Monty by the shoulders and looks him up and down. “Okay, what’s with the suit? Out of all the options you went with a suit?”

“All the options?” Monty asks.

“Didn’t you get a fancy chest thing?” Octavia asks.

Monty shakes his head. “Just the suit … wait, does that mean you chose that dress yourself?”

Octavia shoves him slightly, then takes the sides of her dress and swirls it. “I like it. There aren’t any real flowers and I already miss them.”

“You can’t run in it,” Monty tells her.

Her scowl returns full force. “Well, maybe we don’t need to run for once. Let the others sort themselves out. Clarke isn’t stupid and neither is Bellamy. They don’t need us.”

Jasper puts himself between them. “We can make that judgement when we know more about this place, okay? Unless you’re planning on leaving tonight, Monty, let Octavia have a bit of fun.”

“I am planning on leaving tonight,” Monty whispers angrily. “The guy who runs this place, Dante Wallace, he said he was the President, he wants something from us.”

“So does everybody ever,” Jasper points out. “What does he want that’s got you so scared?”

Monty has to shrug. “All I know is he suggested his son adopt me. That’s why the suit.”

Both of the others look unconvinced by this as a sign of a nefarious plan. Jasper claps him on the shoulder and says, “Well, finally moving up in the world, always knew you would.”

“Some people would be happy to have a family,” Octavia tells him, sounding slightly hurt.

“I already have a family,” Monty says, “My parents are alive on the Ark, Jasper’s mom too and I have you, Jasper, my brother. Octavia, I kind of hope you’re going to stick around long enough to be considered part of it as well. What Wallace is offering is just another chain to keep us where he wants us.”

“Monty,” Jasper says slowly, “You - like I believe you believe that, but you realize you sound paranoid, right?”

“It was you who made us think we had to leave Podakru as well,” Octavia says, rather less diplomatically. “Don’t you trust anyone?”

“It’s not …” Monty doesn’t know how to defend his side, all he has is a vague sense of foreboding and some possibly perfectly innocent things Dante Wallace had said. “No, no, you’re right. I - I was just scared when they separated us, you know?”

Jasper hugs him tightly and Octavia kind of pats awkwardly at his shoulder.

“No one’s taking us away from each other again,” Jasper promises.

 

None of the three prisoners sleep.

They all pretend to, though. Bellamy on the opposite side of the room with his back to them, Finn curled up across a couple of seats and Murphy sitting slouched back against the wall where he’d started.

There’s no way to track the passing of time.

All of them react immediately when Miller opens the hatch. Bellamy stands, back to the wall. Finn sits up slowly. Murphy just opens his eyes.

Miller looks between them, taking in the fact that only Murphy is still bound and that none of them seem to have any new injuries. “You’re up,” Miller tells them, stepping onto the metal floor. “You two decide you wanted a less uncomfortable wait?”

Finn looks away, but Bellamy just glares at Miller.

“Nah,” Murphy says, lazily. “They were trying to escape. I told them to go float themselves, like a _good boy_.”

Miller snorts in disbelief and gestures at the hatch. “Someone has to go first.”

Finn sets his shoulders and stands up, but doesn’t actually go any closer to the ladder. It’s Bellamy that swings himself down into the main part of the ship below first, dropping out of view.

Murphy raises his unbroken arm as far as he can. “Unless you want to carry me, I’m going to need a little help.”

Miller rolls his eyes, but goes over and unties him. Without the pressure of being watched, Finn takes the ladder down too. Murphy takes his sweet time, stretching and rubbing his wrists, until Miller pokes him with a boot.

“If you really want to fight the whole way, I’ll be happy to drag you out there personally,” Miller tells him. “A lot of people think you’ve had this coming a long damn time.”

“Probably because I have,” Murphy says nonchalantly. “Talking of coming, how’s Jackson?”

Miller grabs Murphy by the arm not in a sling and hauls him to his feet, then shoves him in the direction of the ladder. Murphy raises his hand in mock surrender and vanishes downwards. Taking a moment to sigh and rub his forehead, Miller follows shortly after, wondering if Clarke wasn’t making a mistake in not just giving this collection of idiots to the Grounders.

 

Clarke thinks she might be making a mistake in not just giving this collection of idiots to the Grounders.

There’s quite a crowd outside the dropship, Clarke stands on the ramp, trying to look past the three poles that have been hammered into the ground without seeing them. Behind her to the right is Wells and to the left would be Harper, if Harper hadn’t insisted on being actually in the crowd. It’ll be Miller’s spot when he gets here. At the foot of the ramp and slightly to the side, Jackson stands to provide medical care.

The Delinquents and Grounders are split into two clear groups, one to either side. Kali stands towards the front, one hand on her sword. Anya and Indra are with her, each of them at the front of another three splits in the Grounder faction. Nowhere near all of the Grounders have shown up, Kali has the largest group, it was her people who died, Indra has the second largest, her tents were the ones to burn, Anya only has her seken.

That’s probably a good sign, Kali has made it clear she approves of Clarke dealing with her own people, even though she’s got the most reason to make sure justice is carried out. If they catch Lincoln, Clarke decides she’ll advocate for Kali being the one to have him as a show of gratitude. She doesn’t think about how that could mean they’d caught Tomos as well. Anya’s opinion is unlikely to be swayed by this, but Indra is the one Clarke needs to persuade she can control her own people. Kali gives Clarke a nod, but neither of the others acknowledge her gaze.

On the Delinquent side, Clarke naturally recognises many more faces. Nearly everyone has shown up. She’s slightly concerned when she sees their youngest, 12 year old Charlotte, is present, but on the other side Anya’s seken looks on an age with her, so Clarke feels she can’t protest.

There’s no obvious sign of a major split in the main crowd, which is a good sign.

Despite or maybe due to his charismatic flirting with anyone who glanced in his direction, Finn doesn’t have a specific group he belongs to, so no one feels enough loyalty to split off for him. Besides Raven, who is far back enough she’s barely attending, leaning up against Wells’ fence.

Bellamy and Murphy are a different matter. With Bellamy’s absence his supporters have dwindled to just Atom, Sterling, Monroe and Derek, but those four are busy glaring at Murphy’s Mebege, Jason and Jacob. Harper’s told her none of those seven will start anything without Bellamy or Murphy’s say, but it’s worth keeping an eye on anyway.

Roma isn’t placed politically for once, just clinging to Bree’s hand as part of the main crowd. Apparently, her fondness for Bellamy isn’t enough to get her to visibly show support for him and Wells and Clarke have both rebuffed her advances.

Even deliberately looking for her, it takes Clarke a moment to find Harper, eventually spotting her saying something in Monroe’s ear that gets Monroe to glance around, shrug, then move with Harper slightly closer to the main crowd. Clarke bites back a smile, Harper has become someone she relies on without Clarke noticing.

There’s a ripple of attention through the crowd and Clarke knows Miller and his guards must have brought the three boys out.

Clarke doesn’t look back.

 

Harper brushes Zoe’s shoulder with a comforting smile when Bellamy, Murphy and Finn emerge. Zoe’s been Harper’s friend and occasional casual lover for longer than they’ve been on Earth, it had been no contest to get her to choose between Bellamy and Harper.

Not when Monroe’s loyalty to Bellamy is based on an unrequited crush on Sterling.

Bellamy is to the left, Finn acting as a buffer between him and Murphy. It’s not a surprise that Miller is holding Finn in the middle, he’s the least likely to cause trouble and it means Miller can give aid to either side if needed. Harper is pretty sure she sees Miller’s lips move next to Finn’s ear though and she’s not sure what he might have to say. Finn’s reluctant, but committed stride falters at whatever it was.

Miller must have decided Bellamy was more dangerous than Murphy, because he’s put his second Jones on him. Bellamy barely seems to notice the crowd, moving as though he’s not sure the ground won’t vanish under him.

Murphy, of course, has to make a fight and a show of it, yanking away from Seth with a spat, “I know how to walk, _asshole_.” He tugs his jacket back into place and walks the rest of the way unaided, smirking at the entire crowd defiantly. Harper rolls her eyes when he kneels without being forced as well, challenging each and every person there to a fight despite the vulnerable position and his arm still being in a damn sling.

No one’s ever taught that one when to quit.

Finn follows Murphy’s example and goes to his knees after searching the crowd for someone. Probably Raven. She’s far back enough that Finn seems to conclude she hasn’t shown up and drops his head in defeat.

Jones has to push down on Bellamy’s shoulder before he registers what he’s being told to do and lets his knees hit the ground.

Besides Harper, Zoe presses a little closer to her side and Harper returns her attention to keeping control over the ones who aren’t on stage.

 

It hasn’t escaped Atom’s notice that Clarke’s pet, Harper, has come to collect Monroe, but he’s not sure he can find the energy to care.

Maybe changing the odds to three on three will get Derek to stop growling at Murphy’s pets. Sometimes Atom thinks he’s the only one who remembers they started with Bellamy and Murphy as allies. Not that he’s got any great hopes for that ever being the case again.

But Murphy isn’t the enemy here, he’s a dog that’s got out of control. It’s Clarke and Wells they should be teaming up to stop. Atom doesn’t trust the Grounders, they haven’t given much help and there’s too many of them for it to be friendly. You don’t bring your whole gang to talk to some new gang unless you think it might become a fight.

Atom might be the only one to remember when they called Wells and Clarke Prince and Princess as a joke too. It looks pretty damn real from where he’s standing. The Grounders even call Clarke Princess respectfully in their weird language that’s almost English, but not close enough.

“Bastard traitor, he was Bellamy’s second,” Sterling spits as Murphy has to be held down before the Guards can take his jacket from him.

Atom rolls his eyes, but doesn’t argue. Bellamy had kept Murphy close, sure, but that was because he didn’t trust him. Atom was allowed far more freedom and responsibility, making it clear which of them was really on top.

Murphy’s leash just hadn’t been tight enough.

Atom won’t let Bellamy make the same mistake again, once they’ve got Clarke and Wells out of the way, he’ll be happy to make sure Murphy is _used_ where he’s not dangerous.

Of course that removal is going to require Bellamy.

 

Miller shoves Murphy’s head down, then tosses the damn jacket to Seth. Of course, Murphy just had to prove him wrong. Bellamy hadn’t even really seemed aware when Jones stripped him of his shirt, but Murphy had shown his first real resistance.

He nods to Jones to deal with Finn and grabs Murphy’s hair, pulling his head back up. Miller is beyond done with this bullshit. He’d told Finn he knew full well he wasn’t innocent just to get him to stop with the pleading puppy eyes. Bellamy appears to have disassociated already.

And Murphy is being a damn brat every step of the way.

“Daddy teach you how to do this?” Murphy taunts. “Or is this more Bryan’s speed?”

Miller ignores him, pulling Murphy’s sling off and handing that to Seth too.

“Now, I’m pretty sure at one point Seth was one of my Hunters.” Murphy grins at Seth. “What changed Kettrick? Decide you missed the law and order on the Ark and signed up for Miller’s Guard?”

Murphy’s shirt isn’t going to fit over his cast, so Miller cuts the sleeve across the shoulder to the neck, not too bothered when it nicks the skin under.

“Watch it, Miller,” Murphy says immediately, “Got to do these things right. Can’t just go damaging someone you’re about to beat.”

“Oh, I won’t be the one beating you,” Miller says, adding the shirt to Seth’s collection. “Satisfying as that would be, Clarke insists on doing it personally. I almost feel sorry for you.”

Murphy glances back at Clarke, considering her. “Not enough muscle,” he concludes. “Bitch has never lifted anything heavier than a scalpel. She wouldn’t be able to touch me without you to present me as a gift. I can take whatever she could dish out and she’s going to try and split it between three of us? Wake me up when it’s over.”

Miller laughs quietly as he ties Murphy’s good arm to the post in front of them. “I’ll remind you you said that when she makes you cry. See who’s the bitch then.”

Murphy spits some curse after Miller as he goes to take his place opposite Wells behind Clarke.

Okay, Miller is going to enjoy this. Just a little.

 

Bellamy can’t see the crowd, it just kind of blurs into a single enemy.

No, not an enemy.

A threat.

One he can’t fight. One he can’t win against. One where all he can do is try not to draw attention to himself.

Because if they notice him, they might find out about Octavia.

Bellamy had got through guard training and before that education by being quiet. He never let himself show either brilliance or stupidity. Consistently competent. Consistently average. He’d been obedient. Causing trouble brought attention.

Attention was dangerous.

Why had he thought things would be any different on the ground?

He should have kept his head down, worked to gain Wells’ trust and tried to get him to intervene. The testimony of the Chancellor’s son would have been a powerful defense and he might even have been able to get Clarke on side.

Bellamy had forgotten that the rules still applied, just as much as those he’d convinced they didn’t.

Maybe not all the rules.

No one down here is going to kill anyone for having a second child.

Jaha has promised all their crimes will be forgiven. That includes Octavia’s crime of birth.

Bellamy should have tried making it so his crimes fell into that category.

Instead he committed more.

This will only be the second punishment he’s received in his life. The first had been a demotion to janitor.

That had made him angry.

It had been unfair.

This he can’t claim isn’t fair.

Kali’s face swims out of the crowd, then morphs to that of the Grounder he’d stabbed. Behind her are the two hundred and twenty he killed with a radio.

Bellamy offers his hands to Jones, the rope around his wrists and the pole and the dried mud beneath his knees the only things that matter.

Murphy was right, the bastard.

 

Finn is not panicking.

Finn is not panicking. Finn is not panicking.

He’s breathing fast to prepare himself is all.

He doesn’t deserve this.

The burnt tents are Murphy’s fault, the deaths are Tomos, Lincoln and Bellamy’s fault, the escape is Wells’ fault. He doesn’t see Wells kneeling in the mud.

It had been Finn’s idea.

It had been a good idea though.

If Murphy hadn’t decided arson was a great distraction.

If Lincoln hadn’t turned out to be a killer.

If Tomos hadn’t told Kali about the plan.

If Finn had just accepted that maybe other people knew better than him.

If Raven hadn’t got herself accused.

No, that one really isn’t fair.

There’s no way to blame what had happened with Clarke on anyone but himself.

Finn had really thought Raven would come to watch. Had thought that if he did this for her she might forgive him.

Only this isn’t really about her.

This is about maybe for once having to deal with the consequences of his actions.

He doesn’t like it.

But maybe that’s the point.

 

It’s taking most of Wells’ concentration just to stand still.

Like he’s very relieved he’s not at a fourth post, but he’s still sore. And he has to hide any sign of it. He could pass off a limp as a remainder of his shot leg, but Clarke needs him standing at her shoulder.

Wells needs to be standing at Clarke’s shoulder.

She hasn’t forgiven him yet. Doesn’t trust him again yet.

So he’s going to make his actions match his words.

Support her with whatever she asks for. More only if he’s certain she’d approve.

It’s time for him to stop waiting until Clarke’s ready to take over.

She’s ready.

Wells brings forward the leather belt he’s been clinging onto long enough there’s faint indents of his fingers, hands it over to Clarke and steps back into his rightful place.

Now he just needs to earn it.

 

Raven can’t watch this.

Not when it’s Clarke standing over Finn. It’s not Clarke’s punishment to give.

It should be Raven’s.

Raven is the one Finn’s hurt. However he was involved in Lincoln’s escape, Finn’s responsibility for the burnt tents is part of that. She’s certain of it, though knows she has no proof.

Raven had been accused of that crime.

If she’d known that crime was Finn’s, she’d happily be the one up there right now.

But she didn’t and she isn’t.

What feels most unfair is that everyone thinks he’s up there because of her. That he’s sacrificing himself for her.

Raven would prefer to be beaten publicly herself and have Finn’s honesty.

Maybe if she hadn’t gotten distracted when Finn had confessed to cheating on her then they’d have been working together on this. Raven would have a different plan.

A better plan.

One that didn’t end with anyone dead or beaten.

And even if it still did, Raven would be the one taking the punishment. Finn forced to watch.

Let him see his actions cause more visible pain in the ones he loves.

She doesn’t want to see him injured, but she wants to see him hurt.

And that more than anything makes her walk away. She won’t be the person who finds enjoyment in suffering.

No matter how deserved.

 

Murphy keeps his head high with a cocky grin, meeting the eyes of anyone willing to with a challenge. His grin gets more feral every time he makes someone look away.

He knows he won’t be able to keep doing that once the pain starts and he needs all his attention on fighting that.

Doesn’t stop him.

This is going to _suck_.

 

One of the boys is looking at Indra.

Mofi, she thinks. The one that has been putting on the pretend of a fight. The pretend of not caring.

He’s grinning, no humor in it, the threat display of a cornered animal. Indra studies him, meeting his defiant glare with calm curiosity. When he sees her looking back, Mofi studies her too, making even this a fight.

Indra wonders exactly what part he played in the events of the night before. If he’d been the one to make the spark that burned her tents.

He is like a fire.

Burns so brightly, but eventually runs out of things to burn.

And then dies.

It reminds her of Gaia, though her passion and belief had been the spark.

Indra thinks this one’s spark must have been painful.

She does not think more pain will do anything but add more fuel.

She thinks he needs the fuel to keep living.

He’s a fighter.

So is she.

Indra thinks she might like him.

If he were not her enemy.

 

Clarke thinks the leather belt in her hands feels like a snake.

She’d never held a snake before she landed on Earth.

She’d never held an object with the intent of causing harm with it either.

When she walks forward with it, the crowd hushes, not quiet silent, but Clarke can feel the weight of their attention. It makes her want to cringe away, make herself smaller, run and hide.

Hainofi revels in it.

“These three of my people,” Clarke says, not shouting, but a tone that cuts through the air. “Have committed crimes against our hosts.” Everyone here knows hosts is a polite way of saying captors. Pretty lies are easy. “Some have called for me to turn them over to the justice of Trikru. To those they have harmed. As Hainofi of Skaikru, their crimes are my responsibility. Mine to punish as I see fit. If Trikru still require their justice when I am done, they can take me.”

A ripple of reaction runs through the spectators. Few of them had seen this as Clarke protecting them. Now most of them do.

She knows how few of them have been protected in their lives. How many of them are reconsidering their view of her as dictator. Re-categorizing her.

Clarke hopes enough of those new categories are good.

Hopes they believe her truth.

She has no love for Bellamy or Murphy and her feelings about Finn are painful and complicated, but to protect them she would stand between them and an army and say ‘take me instead.’

Because they belong to her. Even if they haven’t quite figured that out yet.

Clarke catches Harper’s eye and her – she’s not sure what Harper is to her except essential – gives her a subtle thumbs up and nod of encouragement.

They’ve talked this through together. Wells had not been invited into that discussion. She wishes he could have been. Two opinions can make any issue seem binary.

She needs more like Harper. Not with the same abilities, that would be redundant, but with some knack that gives them another perspective.

Clarke has to start with Finn, he’s the one she’s most reluctant to beat, but he’ll break easiest. She’s not aiming for a set number or even going by severity of crime. She wants them broken, so she can put them back together. If Finn realizes she’s aiming for his breaking point, he’ll play wounded gazelle again, make her think he’s broken before he truly has.

So she’s going to surprise him.

“Finn Collins, Skaistrecha of Skaikru,” Clarke addresses him, mixing the Grounder and Delinquent descriptors. They’re not on the Ark, she doesn’t use his prisoner id number, how the Ark perceives him is unimportant right now. “What are your crimes?”

He startles, looking back at her with wide confused eyes. Clarke doesn’t let him see any of her softness. For this lie to work it must come from their mouths, in agreement despite their differences. Wells had been the one to tell her that. Perhaps he could have told her more.

“What are your crimes?” Clarke repeats, silently begging Finn to understand.

He might, he might not, but he turns his head away, bowing it to stare at the ground between him and the audience. “I …”

Great time for him to grow a conscience about telling the truth, Clarke thinks viciously.

Then again, he’s always sold half truths.

“I conspired with John Murphy to … to kill Bellamy Blake. Due to my actions, a fire was started in the Grounder – I mean Trikru camp. I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry for the damage I have caused,” Finn says, shaky, but determined. 

It’s perfect.

No one will ever believe him.

Clarke hits him.

 

Wells takes an automatic step back at the noise and visual of Clarke bringing down the belt across Finn’s back. He recovers a moment later, erasing the look of horror from his face, but no one is looking at him.

Then Finn screams.

Looking away, searching for anything else to watch, even if he can’t cover his ears, Wells notices Bellamy is paying attention again. His head is turned towards Finn, a complex mix of emotions in his expression. Wells can sympathize, he has no idea how to feel about this either.

Mainly relief it’s not him.

He can’t imagine how much worse knowing you’re next would be.

Standing and watching is miles worse than he’d felt in the early hours of the morning, actually receiving punishment. Wells thinks that might be why Clarke had asked him to be here, to be the one to carry the belt.

She’s showing him how much it’s hurting her.

Or rather a fraction of it.

Clarke is using herself as a shield, placing herself between three, no four, people who absolutely do not deserve that protection. Even if she can’t protect them completely.

Wells hopes the others are fucking grateful.

 

Indra and the Skyboy’s staring contest ends in a tie when they both instinctively react to the crack of the belt. She half draws her sword, but beside her Kali puts a cautioning hand on her arm. Indra nods her thanks and returns the sword to her sheath.

It’s a clever move on the Hainofi’s part.

A show of power. Clarke knows she has no power here except what she is given freely. That hasn’t stopped her acting like it’s been given already. People have been handing it over just because she’s been strutting around pretending they already have.

It’s hard to fight when your enemy is acting as though they’ve already won.

Clarke hasn’t won and both she and Indra know it.

The trouble with acting like you’ve won is that you’re unprepared for attacks.

Never assume an enemy is defeated just because they’ve gone down. Every now and then you find yourself an enemy who won’t stop until they’re dead.

Indra thinks the Mofi boy could be one of those.

She knows she herself is one.

If Hainofi Clarke is one then Indra doesn’t much like her chances against her if this comes to a fight.

Relentless fighters that come in packs are the only enemy Indra refuses to face. Fears facing.

You only win that fight by eradicating them all at great loss to your side or by joining their pack.

Or by inviting them into yours.

Indra doesn’t look sideways at Kali or Anya. Now she understands their sides of the debate.

Mofi is fighting. He’s struggling against the rope tying him to the pole. Even if he got free there’s nowhere to run to, no chance of fighting his way through Clarke’s gonas, through Trikru’s gonas, no chance of a reprieve just a delaying and increase in sentence.

Clarke’s Setneshona Mila steps up to him and puts a hand over Mofi’s wrist, holding him still and whispers something.

Still he fights.

Indra doesn’t smile.

They need to eradicate these children. Before they eradicate her people.

But she’d quite like to keep that one.

 

Bellamy can’t tear his eyes away from Finn.

He’s sobbing uncontrollably, pressed as close to the pole as he can get in an attempt to escape, shying away from every new line Clarke paints on his body. Finn isn’t fighting against the pain, he’s just trying to ride through it.

It’s drowning him.

Tears soak down his face, catching in those long eyelashes he likes to bat indiscriminately. Even now he looks angelic. Some stained glass window of a martyr, unjustly punished for his love. The only difference is that those pieces of art never show fear.

He’s begging, something completely impossible to understand. It’s probably best it can’t be, who knows what truths he’d tell for mercy.

Finn sees Bellamy seeing him and meets his eyes, pleading for Bellamy to help him, to save him, to make the pain stop.

Even if Bellamy had any power to make that happen, he wouldn’t.

Finn’s pain is beautiful.

It ends of course.

Or the beating does. Finn’s pain continues as he collapses, only thing keeping him from falling into the mud the bonds on his wrists. Jackson hurries over at Clarke’s nod and between two of Miller’s guards Finn is untied and carried away to Jackson’s surgery.

It’s sooner than Bellamy would like, not only because it puts him closer to his own turn.

The thought he might get to watch Murphy’s cheers him up a bit.

 

Harper pinpoints the moment Finn breaks.

When he stops performing, his posture just where he happens to have moved to avoid the lash, face no longer hidden behind a curtain of curls, sobs loud and ugly. Harper gives Clarke their prearranged signal and the beating stops.

As Seth and Myles lift Finn under Jackson’s direction, Harper frowns and looks around to the back of the crowd. Raven isn’t there any more.

Perhaps she’s gone ahead to Jackson’s tent, not wanting to comfort Finn publicly, but everybody knows Finn took this for her. Which means Raven must have left before the beating started, concerned she wouldn’t be able to stop herself intervening or perhaps scared she wouldn’t want to. That’s great for Raven, recognizing her limitations and removing herself from the situation before she does something she regrets, even if that thing is nothing, but Clarke needs that performance.

Needs Raven sobbing up there on stage, lightly restrained from Finn by a reluctant Miller, trying to calm her as much as hold her back and then when it’s over Clarke turns to Raven and apologizes to her, telling Miller to let go, which he does with relief. Clarke gestures to Jackson to move more quickly, untying Finn herself and supporting him on one side with Raven on the other.

Without Raven playing her part none of that has happened.

Harper hadn’t instructed Clarke on that bit. Hadn’t instructed anyone.

But Miller and Clarke would have played their parts well.

It’s not a total loss.

Finn performed beautifully, breaking at just the right moment. Just as people were starting to think it was too much, that surely Clarke couldn’t mean to continue until Finn passed out. Clarke had gestured immediately to Jackson, forgetting the strap still in her hand, more concerned with Finn’s injury than the cause of it.

No one’s cheering, but no one’s booing either. Harper considers that a success.

She can find Raven and see what she can do to get her back on stage later.

Now Clarke is going to make a much bigger gamble.

No one has any idea of Bellamy’s limits. Harper has noticed he avoids danger, more likely to get physical with someone he needs to quickly remind who’s in charge. Whenever there’s a danger of a fair fight, Bellamy calls in … well it used to be Murphy, then Atom, but someone else.

The only time Harper saw Bellamy hurt was when he misjudged Murphy’s stubbornness and Wells’ willingness to let him do whatever and put a knife to Murphy’s throat. That had been a quick reminder who was in charge that Wells had challenged in a way Bellamy couldn’t call in a proxy.

And Bellamy had won by pulling a gun.

Escalating in a way neither Wells nor Murphy could answer.

This doesn’t mean Bellamy can’t take pain, just that he’s more concerned with avoiding it than say the other boy still at the posts who is going to do serious damage to his unbroken wrist if he doesn’t stop.

Murphy is going to be a nightmare to break.

Harper doubts they can do it with pain alone. Humiliation and anger and guilt need to be working on Clarke’s side.

That’s why he gets to go last. He gets to watch the other two break, anticipating and anxious.

Clarke has a number for him. If Harper signals before that she’ll stop, but she won’t go over, even if that means Murphy doesn’t break.

If that happens Harper’s going to have to find an alternate solution to Murphy.

She nods to Clarke.

 

Finn is aware of the pain plateauing.

It takes him a moment to figure out it’s because Clarke has stopped. Then something is pulling him away from the nice friendly pole that’s supporting him and Bellamy’s gaze. It’d helped seconds ago when it had reminded he wasn’t alone in this, but now he wants to hide from it.

He works out he’s being carried. Recognizes Jackson walking next to them.

“Raven?” Finn asks and Jackson shakes his head.

“Sorry, I know we’re nearly identical,” Jackson jokes. “Easy mistake.”

Finn wants to tell him to go float himself, but that would take too much effort.

Jackson laughs at his own joke, apparently thinking he’s being comforting or something. If he notices Finn’s glare he shows no sign of it.

“Raven,” Finn manages again as he’s lowered onto a bed in Jackson’s surgery.

“I’ll see if I can find her,” promises one of the guards that carried him here. Matt. Monty. Montgomery. Mandy. Mysterious. Who knows?

“’nks,” Finn tells Mimble who smiles at him.

“You’re really brave!” Moonface tells him enthusiastically. “Everyone really knows you’re only really doing this for her! Imagine loving someone so much you’d go through – through that for them!”

Great, the guy’s a romantic.

To be fair, when he’s in rather less pain so is Finn. Which is why Missile’s hero worship grates quite so badly. Finn would have loved for this to actually be for Raven.

But it isn’t.

And that’s why she isn’t here.

 

Clarke’s arm aches.

She thinks it’s a good thing. She’s done with the most painful part and it seems unfair that Finn should get to cause her more pain than either of the others. Or Wells.

Clarke glances back at him, gesturing to her leg in a quick question of if he’s still okay to stand. She won’t order him to remain on it if it’s hurting, but the alternative is sitting. Wells gives her a little smile and shakes his head. If it gets bad enough the ramp looks like the better option that’s the point remaining on the leg is a dangerous choice anyway.

Clarke nods and walks to her right, avoiding the churned ground where Finn had been. She stops behind Bellamy, who visibly fights not to look at her while she studies him.

“Bellamy Blake,” Clarke says, he has no Grounder title and she’s not going to give him one on their behalf. Let them consider him an outsider. “What are your crimes?”

It takes a moment for him to find his voice and when he does it’s not what she expected him to say.

“I killed two hundred and twenty people.”

 

_That_ does _not_ fit Harper’s script.

Bellamy raises his head, looking at the crowd, but not seeing them. “No. Two hundred and twenty two. I killed a Grounder guard while escaping and helped kill another. I didn’t think … Somehow I missed that if I killed people they’d be dead. I tried to kill Chancellor Jaha too, to get to Earth, he survived, but … I’m sorry, Wells.”

Wells startles, he hadn’t expected to be addressed personally.

“Kali,” Bellamy says, “I’m sorry for your losses as well.” He shakes his head. “It took – it took doing it with my own hand. Watching her die … I’ll be watching her die for the rest of my life … or I hope I will. I don’t want to be the person who’d forget. Or the person who’d killed enough there’s too many to remember, but I’ve already passed that line. I’ll do whatever it takes to never cross that line again. Not for anyone. I owe – I’m sorry, I don’t know her name … I owe her that.”

“Em name was Afi,” Kali tells him, no trace of emotion in her voice. “I don’t know em well. Em sis stand here with me. Em lover couldn't.”

“Thank you,” Bellamy says. He takes a deep shuddering breath and braces himself. He doesn’t ask forgiveness or mercy. Right now he doesn’t want either.

Clarke catches Harper’s eye, a desperate call for help, but Harper shrugs, looking just as rattled.

“I also have a thank you,” Murphy calls, snapping attention to him and his smug grin. “Clarke, thank you, sincerely, from the depths of my heart, for giving me the chance to watch Blake get what he deserves.”

There’s only a handful of laughs, loudest from his little pocket of supporters, but Murphy acts like there’s riotous applause, attempting to bow with a flourish despite being half tied to a pole and on his knees.

It’s enough to make Clarke move towards him gripping the belt tighter, but that’d just give him the attention he wants. Harper shakes her head and tilts it towards Bellamy. For possibly the first time ever, Bellamy seems to have successfully ignored Murphy. There’s a strange calm to him, an acceptance Harper had seen only briefly when Murphy had brought him back to camp, hands tied and not a new scratch on either.

She expects Miller to need to hit or gag Murphy before he stops playing showman, but when his little display isn’t met with punishment, he settles. He’s stopped tugging at the ropes, Harper can see red staining his arm, he’s found a different fight. She’s not sure what it is.

The attention of the crowd fades back to Bellamy, but Harper keeps studying Murphy. For someone who just claimed he wanted to watch, he’s avoiding actually looking. If anything he looks bored.

Clarke is improvising. “The theft that led to the deaths of two hundred and twenty people on the Ark is not the crime you are currently paying for,” she tells the crowd. She’s reducing how severe the crime sounds, calling it theft and using the fact the deaths were on the Ark to distance everyone here from them. “Though this crime was committed in an attempt to escape justice for it. A sentence has yet to be passed for your earlier actions. I have delayed that too long, once you are recovered enough to serve it, a public trail will be held.”

It’s a good way of buying time until Clarke can actually decide what she’s going to do with him. It also separates his actions against Trikru and against the Ark. The Grounders can’t call for his execution for the deaths of an unknown potential enemy.

Bellamy doesn’t start screaming until Harper has already lost count.

She doesn’t watch him for the sign he’s broken.

She watches Murphy.

 

Atom is screwed.

Sterling and Derek have uncomfortably sidled off in the same direction Monroe went earlier. No one wants to visibly be on Bellamy’s side right now.

Atom isn’t going anywhere.

He’s got some actual fucking loyalty.

Sure, he’d never had any for Murphy, but Murphy had never had any for him. And Bellamy can be an ass, but he gives a shit. Maybe not about Atom, not yet, but he’s seen the way Bellamy takes care of Octavia. How torn up he is that he currently can’t.

That’s what Atom wants from him. Not some stupid power trip or because he particularly likes the guy, but because Bellamy looks after his family.

Clarke talks about doing that a lot, but she’d rather beat her own people than go to war to protect them.

Only time Bellamy has laid a hand on him was for shit he did to Bellamy or Bellamy’s people. You don’t go around enforcing other people’s law. The Grounders have a problem with something Bellamy did and Atom is willing to fight by his side until they’re both dead.

For the promise of a maybe someday family.

Atom knows he’s screwed up psychologically or some shit. Doesn’t care much.

He does care that he’s looking at a Bellamy that’s already surrendered.

Guess he’s fighting for him alone then.

 

“Uh, hi, Raven!” says a boy with a crooked grin and freckles.

Raven has no idea who he is or what he wants. She decides to ignore him.

He takes that as an invitation to sit on the ground next to her, leaning against the outside of Wells’ wall.

“Finn sent me!” he tells her, as though he’s saying Finn handed him a star.

“Great,” Raven says sarcastically, “He got any more secret friends and/or lovers I should know about?”

He laughs even though Raven hadn’t been joking. “I’m Myles. Miller - well, I helped Finn just now and he’s really sad and he’s hurting and he misses you. So I thought you should know that!”

“Go back,” Raven instructs him, “and tell him I don’t give a floating fuck how sad he is. That just because he’s in pain doesn’t mean I have to forgive him this time. That any pain he’s in right now is entirely his fault. He can’t pin that blame on me. That he’s damn lucky to come out of this looking like a sacrificed hero instead of the bastard, cheating, lying scumbag he is. That he’s not welcome in my tent. He can send someone else to get his stuff. You know, wait here, I’ll go get it now and you can take it to him.” She stands up.

Myles looks like she just electrocuted him without warning him first. “But it’s _romantic_ ,” he splutters after a moment.

Raven grins bitterly. “Lucky you for still getting to believe that matters.”

 

Murphy wishes he could enjoy Bellamy’s pain more.

There’s a sense of satisfaction at every stripe that appears on his back, every bit back sound of pain. There’s guilt and sympathy too.

Murphy wishes he could say this was the first time he’s waited for punishment while the person he was fighting gets theirs. Back on the Ark most of his fights with other kids had ended with an adult dragging them apart. Sometimes he started it, sometimes he just escalated it, sometimes all he had to do was speak. He never told the adults any of that, it wasn’t any of their business. He’d smirk about whatever his opponent got, tease them about it later and take whatever he got with a complete lack of repentance or respect. He’d be back within the week, occasionally within the day, on one occasion within the hour.

Every single one of those adults had given up on him ever learning differently.

They’d set out to break him and had concluded it was impossible.

They’d kept punishing him though, in the hope that someone else might decide not to follow his example.

This feels different.

For one thing, he’s pretty sure if he ends up here again any time soon it’s going to be an execution. For another, he doesn’t think Clarke is going to accept anything less than unconditional surrender.

Murphy can’t give her that.

 

Miller wants to stop this. Has done since Finn’s first scream.

He glances across at Wells, catches his eye and attempts to tell him ‘it’s okay, it’ll be over soon’ without moving anything but his eyes. Wells might have got the message or he might just be trying to say the same thing.

They look away, Miller checking on Murphy, technically his job right now. He feels weirdly sorry for him again.

Miller has never been amazingly bothered by Murphy’s bullying, there’s nothing he’s particularly ashamed of. Sure his dad’s a guard and he’s dating a boy from a different station, but he’s not his father and why shouldn’t he date whoever the hell he likes.

He’s seen others pushed to tears or violence by him though. Stepped in a few times. Murphy had never respected him, but he also backed down when Miller was the one telling him to. Miller really doubts Murphy was scared of him either.

The first time they’d met, Murphy had tried to start a fight. It hadn’t been with Miller, one of the other prisoners and Miller had pulled Murphy off him. Miller had barely touched him, just held him back until Murphy figured out trying to hurt Miller wouldn’t get him anywhere and calmed. He hadn’t said a word either, just let Murphy go.

Apparently, Murphy had wanted to avoid that enough to never challenge Miller again until today.

It seems absurd that Murphy might be more afraid of not being hurt than being hurt.

Miller doesn’t have another explanation.

Bellamy actually tries to walk away on his own.

Myles has vanished somewhere, so Miller gestures for Jones to help Seth. He can’t blame Myles, if he could get away with hiding somewhere until this was over he’d be there. Still he’ll have to make sure the kid is okay next chance he gets.

On the opposite side of the ramp, Wells sits down, wincing. Clarke had known it was a stupid idea for Wells to stand on his bad leg for extended periods of time. Miller just hopes it was Wells’ stubbornness that made him try, rather than Clarke’s orders.

Bellamy still tries to push away the help, until Atom shoves his way through the crowd and ducks under Bellamy’s arm. There’s some surprise, but not much, Atom hasn’t been subtle in his continuing support of Bellamy. What is surprising is that that support hasn’t been broken by this. Bellamy leans into Atom, managing a weak smile at something he whispers to him.

Miller nods to Atom, trying to show admiration for that loyalty, but Atom glares back, furious. Fair enough, Miller would do the same to anyone who assisted in beating - he’s not actually sure where his main loyalty lies at the moment. It would be Wells, but all Wells’ loyalty is caught up in Clarke, so Miller guesses that makes him Clarke’s by association or something.

He wouldn’t be overjoyed by either of them being hurt.

Then again, he isn’t overjoyed by Bellamy being hurt either.

There’s a definite current of anticipation through the crowd now, though. They’d wanted to see Finn as hero, Bellamy as penitent.

Murphy just looks like a dick.

No one feels guilty about wanting to see him suffer.

He’s an easy target.

 

Murphy lowers his head as Clarke’s footsteps approach, still looking up and forwards at the crowd. It’s as close to submission he can force.

“John Murphy,” Clarke says and he hopes she dies horribly and painfully. “What are your crimes?”

“Where do I start?” Murphy replies mockingly. “Do you want them alphabetically or chronologically?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter the part of Clarke Griffin in Mount Weather will be played by ... Monty Green?
> 
> I honestly didn't see Indra and Murphy coming. That was all Indra's idea.  
> She just started explaining what she'd liked about Octavia and pointed out Murphy was doing some very similar things.  
> More on the topic next chapter.
> 
> Miller's loyalty is much more binding and consistent than he or Atom realizes. His loyalty is to the people. To the point of it not much mattering who's in charge as long as they protect the people too. He'll hold on through regime changes *because* he's loyal. If he believes a leader wants what's best for their people, he'll defend them with his own body in a storm of glass. If he believes a leader wants what's best for themselves, he'll sign up to the revolution on the opposite side to his father and boyfriend. It doesn't matter if what either leader decides is actually best for their people or not. It's about motivation. Intent.  
> He's the one to forgive Bellamy the easiest out of those who went against Pike and that's because Bellamy's intentions were good, even if his actions really weren't. Or Miller believed they were. He's not amazingly good at reading the very thing he bases his loyalty on. On the Ark, he believed Kane was only working for himself. He didn't believe Pike truly wanted to protect people from the Grounders. He was wrong on both counts.  
> Miller is an excellent second in command. That can be used by any type of leader. He'll only turn on you if you make him believe you'll turn on him. What Miller isn't is a leader in his own right.
> 
> Damn this scene ran long ... then again I just managed to spend an entire 10,000 word chapter on a meeting, in which one topic was partially covered, in the sequel.
> 
> Player: Bellamy  
> Achievement Unlocked: Confess to Murder
> 
> Player: Wells  
> Achievement Unlocked: Become Clarke's Bitch
> 
> Player: Raven  
> Achievement Unlocked: Dump His Ass
> 
> Player: Murphy  
> Achievement Unlocked: Activate Indra's Mom Instincts.


	5. Kikabug

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably my favorite chapter title (and my favorite character, yes, I know how mean I'm being to him).  
> So, the canon Trigedasleng for survivor is kika.  
> Thus: Kikabug - Survivor Bug - Cockroach - John Murphy.  
> I just really like the mix of affectionate and tough 'Kikabug' has in the sounds. It's got those harsh k's, but then bug is one of those syllables that gets tagged on the end as affectionate, but then bug just isn't a generally positive thing, but then it's got that lovely strong alliteration.
> 
> Um, warning for Watership Down spoilers? The book, not the film.

Jonmofi is doing a very good at getting people to want to see him hit.

“I’m just saying, if you want me to list every single crime I’ve ever committed, we’re going to be here a while,” Mofi says.

No one is laughing.

Indra believes he’s stalling. Even if that stall makes the punishment worse when it happens.

She wouldn’t give him the chance to delay.

Klark must decide that’s her only option, because she says, “Murphy, you’re accused of -”

“Everyone knows what I’m accused of,” Mofi interrupts and again Klark fails to answer with the belt, “but the truth of the matter, that’s another thing. Can anyone ever know the whole truth?”

Indra frowns, that’s a threat. Klarke is hiding something about the events of the night before and Mofi knows it and he … he’s using it as a weapon in his pointless fight. Threatening his heda, his Hainofi, when she holds both all the power and a belt is one of the stupidest things Indra has ever seen and she’s known Lincoln since he was a child.

It’s Clarke’s Setneshona that steps in. “Murphy, if that’s how you want to play it,” he says, “you can stay there as long as it takes for you to answer the damn question.”

The scowl that puts on Mofi’s face is not adorable.

Indra is very certain of that fact.

“Since you’ve all got more important things to do,” Mofi says, “And so do I - well, I tried to kill Bellamy. Shocking I know, it’s not like we’ve got a history of doing that or anything.”

Indra is now aware that a long term rivalry stands between Belomi and Murphy. She can use that.

“My dear _accomplice_ , Finn, who should really be here so I can glare sideways at him to highlight his incompetence … anyway, I stole the stuff to make fireworks. My bad, Raven, you probably wanted that.”

The trick, Indra thinks is to listen not to Mofi’s tone, but to the actual words he’s saying. He said Fin was his accomplice, he stole the fireworks and that he took something away from the Tekamin. He did not say Fin caused the fire.

But that Fin was involved.

“Tomos led the way through the Grounder camp, dumb kid squealed, Bellamy and the pretty guy with the chains and the tattoos murdered some people. I was inside the tent when that happened. Needed some me time.” Mofi makes a jerking off motion with his cast arm.

Klark immediately catches that arm and holds it still. Her tone and words are pure fisa. “Do not make me immobilize the rest of you until this heals to stop you making this worse. When did you last see Jackson about it?”

“Let go!” Mofi snarls, all trace of defiant humor gone. “It’s really quite easy to just beat someone without making them play twenty questions first.”

“Last chance, Murphy,” Klark says, uncompromising.

Mofi glances towards the belt in her other hand, then back up at her. “Float yourself, princess.”

Through what must be an iron willpower, Klark doesn’t hit him. Instead she calls Mila to help her. The Setneshona holds Mofi’s arm still despite his spat curses and at least one attempt to bite. Klark takes Mila’s knife, either she doesn’t carry one herself, a mistake, or she doesn’t want anyone to know where she keeps it, and cuts through the cast.

Indra is no fisa, but she knows that is not what a healing break should look like. She’s not close enough that she can see details, she doesn’t want to be. Mila reels back, releasing Mofi.

Klark doesn’t miss a second, just cuts the rope holding Mofi to the post and orders, “Jackson, now.”

Mofi actually starts to argue about that and Setneshona Mila is still recovering, so Indra strides forward, hauling Mofi up by his other arm and marching him towards the fisa tent.

“Who the hell are you?” he asks her, trying to pull away.

Indra just lifts him slightly higher, leaving him the choice of walk or be dragged.

“Okay, lady,” Mofi says and it’s not a term of respect, “I literally just met you and I think you’re a complete bitch. Great job.”

“And I think it’s a pity you didn’t get beaten today,” Indra replies, pushing into the tent. “Were you mine I’d change that. You arm wouldn’t matter.”

Mofi laughs. “Yeah?” He stumbles as she releases him in front of Jakson. “You want to try it?” He clenches his fists, noticeably finding the broken side harder. “I can take you, old lady.”

Indra turns her back on him to talk to the fisa. “This branwoda boy need care for his arm or he’ll lose it. I think it’d teach him a lesson if he did.”

“Murphy?” Fin asks, “What the hell did you do?”

Belomi pulls his head up from where he’d been trying to suffocate himself with the pillow and stares at him.

Going slightly pink, Mofi allows Jakson to look at his arm.

“Shit,” Belomi says, sitting up despite Jakson’s glare. “Murphy … I … shit.”

“If you want to apologize you’ll have to try better than informing us you shit,” Mofi drawls.

Indra is interested to find that he stops resisting Jakson in favor of baiting Belomi. She takes the chance to check the state of the other two and is satisfied. The punishment was fair.

There’s a third boy standing by Belomi’s side. “That’s your own damn fault, Murphy,” he says. “You’ve been doing stuff like it’s fine.”

Mofi turns on him. “You a doctor now, Atom? Get bored of licking Bellamy’s ass and decide you’d rather rub cream on it?”

“Atom’s right,” Jakson says quietly.

Before Mofi can manage to anger everyone in his area, Indra pinches his ear between two fingernails and yanks.

He yelps and the glare he gives her isn’t anything close to respectful, but he starts pretending none of the others are there, which is better.

Indra catches Belomi looking at her with something like awe.

She knows Mofi’s obedience is only going to last exactly as long as she’s there.

 

Monty gets to meet his new father a couple of days into their imprisonment. He can’t bring himself to think of it as anything else.

Cage seems about as interested in Monty being his son as Monty is. He spends the entire time picking his nails with Dante’s letter opener, seeming more of a sulky teenager than a man easily old enough to be Monty’s actual father. Monty doesn’t miss the flash of fear Cage shows when Dante takes the letter opener away.

“Do you have any questions, Monty?” Dante asks, in the tone of one who doesn’t intend to answer them if he does.

“Yeah,” Monty says, he seems to have given Dante some sort of impression that reminded him of Cage, so he figures going with what he can tell about Cage might help. “What’s going to happen to my friends?”

“I told you we should keep one back -” Cage starts saying to Dante, but he holds up a hand and Cage shuts up.

“They have been given a room that is currently empty. It’s rather larger than necessary, but it will work until alternate families are found,” Dante tells Monty.

It doesn’t answer Monty’s question in the slightest. He nods anyway.

“Cage, why don’t you show Monty to his new room?” Dante asks with a pleasant smile.

Monty is interested enough in what Cage might say without Dante that he pretends enthusiasm. He’s led a short distance down the corridor from Dante’s office and Cage shoves open a door.

It’s a nice room. Larger than the quarters he and his parents had shared with Jasper and Jasper’s mother. Some attempt has been made at decoration at least, Dante must have noticed Monty’s interest in the painting from his quarantine room because it’s been brought here, back at right angles with the ground. The bed covers aren’t the same sterile white and neither are the walls, but the browns and yellows feel almost more like a sickbed.

“Thank you,” Monty tells Cage automatically.

“Don’t,” Cage tells him. “Look, uh, Matty, I don’t … I’m going to be a shit father. You should know that right at the start. And my father … he’s a pretty shit father too. So, sorry. If it were up to me, I’d give you to someone who wouldn’t … who’d know … someone else.” Cage closes his eyes briefly. “I don’t want to get to know you. It’ll just make what happens later harder. So, stay out of my way unless my father … gives direct orders about it. You’re not one of us. You’re an Outsider. Cause trouble and I won’t hesitate to hurt you, even if you are a kid, okay?”

Monty nods, it’s very different from the welcome they’d received at Podakru.

But if all Cage Wallace wants is for Monty to stay away from him, he’s not complaining.

 

“Harper,” Clarke says. “Tell me why I didn’t know Murphy’s arm was infected.”

“I didn’t think it was important,” Harper tells her simply. Clarke had offered her the same seat Wells had been in before she punished him, the symbolism isn’t lost on her. “Clarke, if I told you every little thing I notice, I would never have time to go out and notice things. Do you also want to know that Lisa Ann decided she wanted to cut all her hair off so it wouldn’t get in the way and lost the tip of her ear and she’s too embarrassed to go to Jackson about it, so she’s borrowed, without asking, my red bandana to cover it up? Or how Justin, Giles not Bishop, ate something he shouldn’t have and has been talking about seeing weird moths crawling over his skin, but even he doesn’t know what exactly caused it? Even if I just stuck to the medical stuff …”

“Okay,” Clarke says, “Point taken. But Murphy had marked himself out as a ... a ...”

“Suspect,” Miller suggests.

“Person of interest,” Wells supplies slightly more helpfully.

Harper nods. “I am sorry. I’ll know in future.”

Either Clarke believes it was an honest mistake, which it had been, or she’s not willing to do anything about it, because she drops into her chair with a sigh. “Miller, get rid of the posts,” she orders.

“Are you sure?” Wells asks, then bites his lip, “Sorry.”

“No, don’t be,” Clarke says with a smile. “What’s your counter-argument?”

She might have had to establish who exactly he owed allegiance to, but Clarke never wants anyone scared enough of her that they would hold back on raising points she might not have considered.

“They’re a reminder, keeps people aware of what happens if they cross you. They’re not causing an obstruction, but everyone will have to walk past those everyday.” Wells hesitates before adding,” And we’re going to need them again.”

“That’s exactly why we should remove them,” Clarke responds. “All they keep people aware of there is fear. We reuse the posts, make a drying rack or part of a tent or something. They’re still visible, but they start being a symbol of redemption. That just because they’ve been used to hurt, they can still – still be used to do some good. We need to do the same with Finn and Bellamy. Murphy - Murphy is a problem I currently don’t have a solution to.”

“I might,” Miller says carefully. “I’m definitely not saying we give him any power at all, but - I’d be willing to offer him a place in the guard. I mean the bit of the guard that mainly hunts.”

“He’d be your responsibility,” Clarke warns.

Miler nods. “I know. He might not even accept, but I’m willing to try.”

Clarke glances round. “Any other objections to the poles and Murphy?”

“I have plenty of objections to Murphy,” Harper mutters to general amusement.

“Finn should be easy enough to find a place,” Wells muses, “he’s our best tracker, he’s already unofficially been our chief scout since he got back. I could make it more official? Unless Miller thinks that falls under his jurisdiction?”

Miller groans. “It probably does, but I’m really not going to stop you if you want it. There’s a few of mine you can have for scouts as well.”

Wells nods his thanks, then brings up the other issue. “Bellamy.”

“Bellamy,” they all echo gloomily, then grin at each other.

“I’m not putting him anywhere with access to tech or weapons,” Clarke says. “Which leaves food preparation and building, basically. Neither of which are ideal. He was a janitor on the Ark, right? That’s worse.”

“Murphy gets weapons, but Bellamy doesn’t?” Wells points out.

“I can’t put them in the same place. Miller’s volunteered for Murphy sitting and you’ve volunteered for Finn watching, that’s both the groups with weapons permission. Unless I send Bellamy to the Grounders - wait.” Clarke grins. “Wells, remember we were talking about sending Bellamy to Podakru? Where Octavia is.”

“Make him someone else’s problem,” Harper says approvingly.

“Punish him with exactly what he wants …” Miller adds thoughtfully.

“Bellamy goes to Podakru,” Clarke decrees.

 

Octavia doesn’t like the room they’ve given her and Jasper. It’s got far too many beds, bunks in neat rows that no one is sleeping in. The bottom bunks have the slats of the top bunk and the top bunks are too close to the ceiling. She’s done hiding under the floor. She drags a mattress off one of the beds and puts it on the ground.

Jasper peers down at her from the top bunk he’s claimed as his.

“It’s too … too like …” Octavia tries to explain.

He gets it. “Hey, whatever the hell we want, right? Ugly flower dresses and mattresses on the floor, doesn’t matter, because I love you, Octavia Blake.”

She squints at him. “Do you want to kiss me?”

Jasper blushes and rolls over so she can’t see him any more. “I mean, yeah, I did, I do, because you’re pretty and I like you and stuff … but …”

Octavia pulls herself up the side of the bunkbed to stand on the lower bunk and peer at him. “But?”

“But you can be such a brat!” Jasper tells her, flicking her nose, laughing when she wrinkles it at him. His laughter fades into a sad smile.

“How come Monty doesn’t get to be with us?” Octavia asks.

“Because they don’t want us corrupting him,” Jasper tells her, only half joking. “He’s a rich kid now. Not supposed to talk to the likes of us. Doesn’t matter if he wants to or not.”

Octavia hauls herself over the side of the bunkbed, ignoring the ladder and falls next to him, putting an arm across Jasper’s chest. “We’re not giving up on Monty,” she tells him, fiercely. “Not today, not ever. Because I know he’s not giving up on us.”

 

Bellamy wakes when Finn gets up to sneak out of the tent.

He coughs deliberately and Finn spins round guiltily.

“Going somewhere?” Bellamy hisses, head snapping round when he hears Murphy shift. Jackson had decided to sedate him though and he’s out.

“Raven,” Finn whispers back.

Bellamy isn’t going to warn him about being caught or tell him not to go, if Clarke hadn’t given the order for him to be handcuffed to the makeshift hospital bed, he’d be halfway to Podakru and Octavia already. “Be careful,” he says quietly instead.

He can just about see the outline of Finn’s head as he nods, then he’s gone.

“Finally, I was getting bored,” Harper says in a normal conversational tone.

Bellamy makes the incredible mistake of partially rolling onto his back and if there was any chance of Murphy waking it’d be at the outburst of cursing.

“You need to stop doing that,” Bellamy tells her defensively. “You didn’t do that before Clarke got back, she’s a bad influence.”

“Speaking of bad influences,” Harper says and walks over to perch on the edge of Murphy’s bed. “You’re going to get to be one to Octavia again. Clarke’s sending you to Podakru. You won’t be coming back. We can’t call it exile, but that’s what it is. I can’t tell you what we’ll do if you come back, mainly because we haven’t decided yet. Please, don’t put us in a position where we have to make a choice. You are genuinely a nightmare to sentence.”

“We can’t,” Jackson says, flicking on one of the lights as he comes through the curtain at the opposite end of the tent to the door. Bellamy had assumed it was another exit or something, but no, of course Jackson sleeps as close to his patients as possible.

Harper glares at Jackson for kind of stealing her dramatic entrance thing.

“Octavia isn’t with Podakru,” Jackson tells them, keeping his voice low, “and the Grounders already know that. Before – everything Tomos told me the three Clarke left there made a run for it. No one knows what happened exactly, but – apparently their tracks went too far west.”

“What’s west?” Bellamy asks.

“How long have you known?” Harper says at exactly the same moment.

“Tomos didn’t tell me until right before it got dark the night he ran away,” Jackson answers. “He must have known the Grounders would know he was the one to tell us. And I have no idea what’s west.”

“Maun-de,” Harper says. “Which is another way of saying I have no idea, but I know that’s the Grounder name for it. They’re scared of it. It’s got something to do with the fog.” She pauses, dramatically. “I think it’s Mount Weather.”

 

Everyone avoids Monty.

Cage apparently works on his ‘experiments’ somewhere Monty isn’t allowed. Monty suspects these experiments are something akin to what he and Jasper got up to on the Ark.

Octavia and Jasper are kept away from him. They’re never in the dining hall in the same time slots, whenever Monty asks about them he’s told they’re busy or he’s busy or some other excuse.

The general population seems to regard him as some sort of dangerous exotic creature that might have been put in a gold collar, but it could lose patience with its new masters at any moment and maim someone.

Monty kind of wishes he could maim someone.

With the only options Dante or solitude, Monty is hard pressed to choose. He’s not used to being alone. He lived in a single room with his parents until Jasper’s mother became his stepmother. Three adults and two children got them a slightly bigger room, but even less chance of solitude. Then he and Jasper had set up their still in an abandoned corner and it had just been the two of them, testing the results of their work and talking bullshit until the buzz wore off. Then they’d got too ambitious, trying to branch out, pun intended, and Monty had made a mistake and they’d gone to the Skybox. Even there it had been four to a cell. Monty and Jasper had got themselves separated quickly, but Miller who bunked with Monty knew how to open the magnetic locks and had taught Monty the trick and Monty had taught Jasper, so more nights than not they’d end up in the same bed.

They’d never given that habit up, no matter how many times they were caught.

Then they’d been sent to the ground and even then they’d been together.

The few nights they spent with Podakru they’d slept in Helin’s surgery, single beds only a few inches apart. They’d held hands across the gap and told each other the new things they’d learned.

A week in solitary had been the longest they’d ever spent apart and they hadn’t been able to let go of each other after. Two guards had to pry them apart.

They’ve never been lovers, though people often assume it.

They’ve never had the privacy they’d want to figure it out. A tiny cupboard mostly filled with the smell of fermenting vegetation is great if you want somewhere to hide contraband. Not so much if you want to explore your sexuality. They’d kissed a couple of times, thought it was fun.

Right now, Monty misses Jasper like he’d miss his torso.

There’s a library here, books that hadn’t survived in physical or digital copy on the Ark. So Monty reads to pass the time between Dante’s lessons on ruling. He thinks he learns much more from the books than the President.

Dante finds him a tutor, one who’s supposed to teach him logistics and history. The logistics part is miles behind where he was on the Ark, but he pretends to struggle. Her name is Marina but he’s supposed to call her Miss. Tilling. He keeps forgetting the Miss, even his teachers with doctorates or guard rank had gone by their surnames only on the Ark. Plus it sounds close enough to distilling to amuse him. If she was teaching Jasper too, they’d have no end of fun with that, but Jasper’s always been bolder and he’s got no idea what the consequences are here.

Of course he figures he’s going to find out eventually.

May as well make it impressive.

He waits a few days for things to settle into routine, then he goes looking for Jasper and Octavia. If he knows them at all, he’s pretty sure they won’t have waited once it became clear those few minutes were all they were getting. That they haven’t succeeded makes him worried.

Monty took a pen from his classes and has been drawing a map onto the blank pages at the end of a copy of Watership Down. He’d liked that one.

It had been about a group of rabbits who had left their home because it was about to die and went looking for a new one. There had been two other warrens they’d found. The first had been friendly, but alien, food plentiful and the resources to spare for decoration. They’d only found the truth when their host’s wife had been killed by a snare, put there by the humans who left the food.

They’d run.

Pretending death didn’t exist wasn’t a solution. It had just made them complacent.

Monty rather thinks Cowslip’s Warren must be Podakru. Not talking about the threat of Trikru even as people die.

That would make Mount Weather Efrafa.

It amuses Monty to think of Dante Wallace as an angry oversized rabbit.

It makes it much easier to smile placidly through his speeches.

Monty never forgets that General Woundwort was dangerous.

In a way, with the overcrowding and death for disobedience, Efrafa reminds Monty of the Ark as much as it does Mount Weather. It’s also pretty funny to think of Jaha as an angry oversized rabbit.

Sometimes he wonders which of the heroes the Delinquents would be. He only knows a few of them from the Skybox, socializing was discouraged, but he thinks Bellamy would be Hazel. After all he’s the only one with a little sibling and he’s loyal and brave and a good leader and all that stuff. He’s not sure about any of the others. Not even himself or Jasper.

Maybe Blackberry, the clever one, and Dandelion, the storyteller.

The map in the back isn’t great, even with how little he’s seen he keeps having to cross bits out. Monty is going to run out of pages long before he runs out of Mountain. There are other books in the library though.

No one’s bothered to lock Monty’s door at night, so he slips out easily.

The first interesting room he finds is the infirmary. It’s lit but empty, beds set out in rows against one wall. The plain door at one end leads to a bathroom, but the huge door at the other is locked.

Monty almost laughs when he realizes it’s magnetic.

Finding something suitable doesn’t take as long as he thought it might and then he’s sliding it across the door, smiling at the click as it disengages. The door’s heavy, but even if his friends aren’t behind it, Monty isn’t turning back. This place has got to have some cool secrets.

 

Raven isn’t sleeping when Finn pushes into her tent.

“No,” she says, the moment she sees him. “I sent Finn a very clear message with a very enthusiastic boy and therefore, Finn knows he’s not welcome here and I’m hallucinating. If I close my eyes and count to ten, the hallucination will _go away_.”

Finn has the cheek to drop to his knees in front of her.

Raven ignores him.

“Please, Raven,” he begs. “I’ve been punished enough. I don’t deserve this.”

“Oh, you’ve had enough?” Raven drops the broken flashlight she was trying to fake interest in. “I’ve had enough too. I don’t deserve this. It’s not about if you’ve been punished or not. It’s not about what you deserve. In fact, it’s not about you at all. It’s about me, looking after me. And I love you, Finn, you’re - you’re my family. But I kind of hate you right now. And there isn’t anything you can do to magically fix that, unless you’ve got a time machine and if you have a time machine, I have way more anger about you hiding that from me than the problems it could solve.”

He doesn’t even try and smile at the joke, just sits there looking pitiful.

Raven thinks that might even work if she hadn’t seen that same look hundreds of times. “Not gonna work this time, sunshine,” she says. “You might have nearly everyone fooled, but me and Clarke both know you and we’ve got each other’s backs on this. You show signs of worming your way back in and well, you’ve got your own back to look out for.”

Finn winces. “You could hit me,” he suggests in a rush. “Like Clarke did?”

He really isn’t listening to a word Raven is saying. “I don’t need or want to punish you, Finn,” she says, slowly and clearly. “Clarke didn’t hit you for lying to her. She hit you for an astoundingly stupid plan that relied on the competence of _John Murphy_! That left _four people dead_! If that hasn’t sunk in by now - if you really think being a shitty boyfriend is your greatest failure - I shouldn’t be the one you’re begging for forgiveness, it should be the families of those that died. If I hadn’t been threatened, would you have confessed, to any part?”

His silence is answer enough.

“Yeah,” Raven tells him coldly. “This isn’t about what you’ve done to me. I can forgive that. Have done, any number of times. Just as you’ve forgiven anything I’ve done to you. 

“This is because you’re a murderer and you’re still trying to persuade everyone you’re innocent. You only admit to the bad stuff you’ve done when you get caught. That’s what you need to change to get me - well, I don’t know that Finn, I might like him. Turns out, I don’t know this Finn either.

“Start small. Start telling the whole truth when asked, not just the bits that make you look good. Or one day it’s going to be you that ends up dead, because the truth catches up to you. It takes one slip, one truth too many and the whole thing falls apart. I’m not asking you to give up doing the bad stuff, just tell me, tell Clarke.

“Clarke’s worried about stopping you doing the bad stuff. If you’re honest with her, you’re going to end up on the wrong end of a hell of a lot more punishments. I won’t punish you. I won’t tell Clarke, if you ask me not to. I can be someone safe for you to confess to. But if you want me to tell Clarke for you, because you’re too scared to do it yourself, I can do that too.

“And I don’t know which came first or is the bigger problem, because you haven’t been telling me. So we have to work on both. Together. As a family.

“And right now, I’m hurting. I’m angry. That’s why I can’t be the one to punish you. Because I love you enough to protect you, no matter what. Clarke loves you enough to protect you from yourself. I’m protecting you from me.

“Because I want to hit you, Finn. I want to make you feel just as much pain as I do right now. But I won’t enjoy it and it won’t make me feel better and it won’t change how you act, so I’m not going to.

“But you should leave.

“Because I’m not sure how much willpower I have left.”

 

“Does Clarke know about Octavia and the others?” Bellamy asks, looking between Harper and Jackson.

Jackson nods. “I talked to her this evening. She - had a weird message for Finn - apparently I’m taking an unwanted second job as a carrier pigeon.”

“That would have been after the meeting where we decided to send you,” Harper says a little guiltily. “She said she’d tell you herself, but I figured you’d appreciate a heads up before you bite through your handcuffs and flee.”

“Well, then, Jackson, you can tell Clarke I’ve gone to find Octavia,” Bellamy says. “Unlock this.”

“Still haven’t grown wings in the literal seconds since I complained about people using me to pass on messages,” Jackson snarks. “And I can’t. Clarke has the key. I said it was a safety hazard and she pointed out that the majority of my medical supplies involve moss and the floor is mud.”

Bellamy rattles the handcuff angrily.

“I could get it,” Harper tells him, “But it won’t be tonight. Earliest I can manage is late morning.”

“Or you could just tell Clarke and see what her opinion is?” Jackson suggests.

“I can’t take the risk she says no.” Bellamy glares at his handcuffs as a Clarke proxy. “If she does, then she’ll be expecting me to run, it’ll make everything harder.”

“So, Clarke’s the enemy here?” Jackson asks tentatively. “Because she isn’t the one who - killed people …”

“Either help me or stay out of my way, Jackson,” Bellamy tells him and the doctor raises his hands. “And if you’re planning on telling Clarke, you’d better get moving now.”

Jackson shakes his head. “Not a pigeon, not too fussed about keeping you here, not going to be the next guy with a bullet in his leg.”

“Who’s got a bullet in his leg?” Finn asks, then realizes it’s Jackson he’s talking to. “Shit.”

“Wells has a bullet in his leg,” Bellamy says, “uh, long story.”

“You shot him,” Finn summarizes, dropping onto his bed. “I know. Everyone knows. Why’d it come up?”

Jackson starts checking Finn over, glad to find he hasn’t made anything worse. “Why weren’t you in the tent to hear?” he asks sternly.

Finn winces at a poke to a bruise. “I went to see Raven. She said - a lot of stuff. I still need to process. I’m starting to think I might have kind of … fucked up a bit?”

“You have fucked up a lot,” Harper tells him.

To her surprise he nods. “I’ve fucked up a lot. Are … are you going to tell Clarke I went?”

Harper shrugs. “If she asks, sure. Sorry. Murphy’s arm didn’t do wonders for my reputation. If snitching on you is what it takes to get her confidence back, no contest.”

“You’re a dirty whistleblower, McIntyre,” Bellamy tells her.

She grins at him. “And you’re a cold blooded killer, Blake, who comes out best in that popularity contest?”

“Me,” Finn informs them both. “Don’t bother, I’m going to tell Clarke anyway.”

“Clarke says it’s fine, hence the lack of handcuffs, she knows that would be a temptation you couldn’t resist,” Jackson says suddenly. “She also says she’d like to hear how it went.” Everyone looks at him oddly. “I said Clarke had a weird message for Finn. I was only supposed to say it if he said he was going to tell her. I don’t know, man. Clarke likes messing with people’s heads?”

“Nah,” Finn says with a strange smile. “It was a test. I think I passed.”

 

Octavia misses Monty, but she sees how much more Jasper does.

He tries to hide it behind an almost aggressive friendliness towards any Mountain Man who comes into his view. There aren’t many that react well. Octavia knows what it’s like to be looked at as a curiosity. She hadn’t liked it then and she doesn’t like it now.

So she hides.

Mount Weather is riddled with air ducts, easily large enough for the Girl Under the Floor.

With a little sadness she swaps her flower dress for jeans to protect her knees and a baggy brown blouse she can use the shape of to hide things. The first thing she takes is a table knife, sharpens it, wraps it in a napkin so it doesn’t cut her and keeps it tucked into the space between her breasts, bra holding it in place. It makes her feel a little safer.

A little more dangerous than in danger.

She practices stealing, taking the chance to get her hands on anything that might be useful if they ran. Not that she wants to run, she’d just like to know she wouldn’t end up out there with nothing.

Octavia’s ducts prove an excellent hiding place, she makes several little caches in there, dotted at locations she’s likely to be in. Of course she hasn’t actually located an exit just yet.

The food needs replacing regularly. Jasper starts helping without her asking him to, slipping an extra bread roll into his pocket to give her in their room later or dropping an apple just as she leans down to rescue her napkin from the floor. Octavia doesn’t think anyone else has noticed or they’d say something. Jasper never talks about it or asks why. She kind of loves him for that.

Jasper meets a girl.

Her name is Maya and she’s very pretty and she likes chocolate cake and creepy paintings and Jasper and when she smiles she has dimples.

Octavia hates her.

Mainly for not being Monty.

But as long as she keeps making Jasper smile, Octavia will refrain from stabbing her in her pretty dimples.

Jasper and Maya start kissing and Octavia thinks maybe she should be unhappy about that or something. She’s not sure she cares.

At night, Jasper lies next to her on their bed on the floor and tells her about his day. He always ends with wondering how Monty’s doing. Octavia doesn’t tell him about her day, but she knows how to listen to stories. They hold each other and imagine a story where they’re not alone.

The first night Jasper forgets to mention Monty, Octavia goes looking for him.

 

Murphy wakes to much too bright sunshine, an ache he can’t ignore in his arm and head and two angry people standing over him.

He’s had better mornings.

He’s had worse too.

Miller he knows and he recognizes the woman from the morning before, the scary one. Great. Whatever he’s done that’s managed to make both of them angry he would like to know so he can avoid doing it ever again.

Unless doing it would be entertaining, of course.

“Chill,” Murphy tells them, grinning when their glares land on him. “There’s enough of me to go around. Who’s first?”

Murphy is used to people looking like they want to hit him. Hell, he’s used to people actually hitting him. He isn’t used to the sharp warning tug on his hair Indra gives him.

“Careful with the merchandise, it’s valuable,” Murphy says, barely needing to think and she tugs again, a little harder. Well, test complete.

Conclusion: scary lady does not like back talk.

Conclusion: Murphy is a bitch who will roll over for some random Grounder, because she’s not using the rulebook he’s used to.

Float that.

“So, who died?” Murphy puts on a dramatic whoops expression. “Oh, right, they weren’t like related to you or anything?”

“The guards killed were Frenli gonas,” she tells him. “I am Indra, wocha of Tondisi.”

“Wotcha, Indra,” Murphy answers. “They didn’t seem especially friendly.”

She slaps him. Palm hitting the side of his face, then again swinging backhand.

Murphy didn’t take that shit from Pike, he’s not taking it from some uppity Grounder bitch.

He shoves himself up, vision whiting out as he puts pressure on his arm.

Miller slams him back down on the bed.

“Listen, I get it, you’re both disappointed I didn’t get beaten yesterday,” Murphy drawls, trying to gauge if he can kick Miller in the balls from this angle. “So are loads of people and I don’t see them lining up at my bedside to fix that.”

“I have a job offer,” Miller says, right before Murphy decides he can just about and swings his foot.

It’s almost embarrassing how easily Miller dodges. “Must you do everything the hard way?” Miller asks, sounding exhausted.

“Yes,” Murphy answers immediately.

“To the job offer?”

“No, obviously no. I’m not being one of your guards. I’d prefer you broke my other arm than follow your floating orders.”

Miller must have expected that response, because he says, “Well, Clarke says you have a choice. Either you take my floating orders or Indra here gets you as her second. Don’t know what Grounder training is like, but I know you’d wash out of guard training in a day. Washing out isn’t an option with them. You learn or you die.”

Murphy’s eyes flicker between the pair of them, considering. “And if I tell Clarke to shove her options up her well formed ass?”

“I have Clarke’s permission to do whatever the hell I want to you, as long as it doesn’t cause a medical emergency,” Miller tells him with more relish than Murphy might have anticipated. “Ever wanted to find out how many people here would jump at the opportunity to take a strap to your well formed ass?”

Murphy is very happy never learning the answer to that question. “Indra,” he snaps. “I’ll take Indra.”

“You sure?” Miller asks. “’Cause Mandy’s running a betting pool on it. Jones reckons it’ll be under thirty, but I’m pretty sure it’s over seventy five.”

Murphy twists and sinks his teeth into Miller’s arm.

It takes both of them to pin him again and Murphy laughs as he spits Miller’s blood at him.

“Fuck, Murphy,” Miller tells him, looking almost sorry for him and that hurts worse than Murphy’s arm. “I wouldn’t do it. Thought it might be a threat that made even you think twice.” Miller shakes his head, then Murphy a little. “If I was the kind of person who would, you’d be out there right now, do you even understand or care about that? You made the right choice, I’ve got no floating clue what to do with you.” Miller lets Murphy go carefully, half expecting another attack. “I’m trying to offer you a second chance here. Clarke is giving you a second chance. You sure as hell haven’t earned it. Please, don’t throw it away. And, John, good luck, I hope you come back to us.”

Murphy spits blood at him again.

He doesn’t believe in second chances.

 

“I got Jackson’s message,” Finn tells Clarke, glancing around at her current Council.

He deliberately looks for Harper first and finds her seated against the side of the tent with the entrance in it, somewhere no one would have reason to look directly at until they turned to leave. She grins at him.

Jackson is there too, treating something on Miller’s arm. Since Miller had been waiting in the medical tent unharmed, when Finn left earlier in the morning, that raises all sorts of questions.

Wells is there and Finn realizes with what feels like his heart rebooting Raven is as well. She’s holding their radio.

“Good,” Clarke says, distracted. “Uh, this is kind of - big. Miller?”

Miller looks up from his arm. “Nobody start shouting, but - I think Jasper blew up Mount Weather.”

 

Monty stands in the doorway, horrified.

There’s cages. There’s people. There’s cages and people.

And the people are in the cages.

There is also Cage Wallace staring at him.

Monty turns and runs, but Cage catches up easily, spinning him round.

“Calm the hell down, kid,” Cage orders him, shaking him by the shoulders as if that’s going to help. “They’re just Outsiders, not human, even though they look it.”

“I’m an Outsider,” Monty spits at him.

That’s when Cage seems to recognize him as the boy who’s supposed to be his son. “Shit,” Cage says, running at hand through his hair, then herds Monty back into the room with cages.

Apparently Cage’s name is even more of a joke than Monty thought.

“You can’t tell my father you know about this,” Cage tells Monty desperately.

All Monty can think is that he’s going in one of those cages and he fights, squirming free and running further in. He comes to a stop at a waist high barrier, seeing the levels and realizing just how many Grounders are being held here.

Cage catches up again and lifts him, carrying Monty back kicking.

“Calm the fuck down!” Cage orders. “You’re not going in a fucking cage. You’re special. Something in your blood, we need it to survive outside or the radiation kills us. You and your friends, never seen anything as good at filtering radiation. These cages are for the normal kind.”

“So you’re going to experiment on us?” Monty asks, “How is that better?”

“We’re not going to experiment on you,” Cage says, making the idea sound absurd and Monty can breath again, right until Cage adds, “Father won’t let us, says we can’t do that to children. He’s wrong.”

Monty kicks Cage hard in the crotch and the moment the hold loosens, makes an attempt to run again. He’s brought up short this time by a hand reaching from one of the cages that trips him up. Lying on the floor, everything spins for a while.

Time rushes back when Cage hits Monty on the side of the head and drags him upright. “Listen to me, you little shit,” Cage says, “you’re going to go back to your nice warm bed and you’re not going to mention this place to anyone, especially not my father.”

“Or what?” Monty challenges. “You’ll experiment on me and tell me not to tell your father about that either? Right now, your father seems like the person on my side. He’s not locking Outsiders up in cages!”

“Okay, I’ve had enough of you,” Cage decides. “You really think Father doesn’t know about this? He knows everything about this place. It’s his kingdom. And when he finds out I let you learn about this place …” Cage shudders and Monty doesn’t want to know why.

He still asks.

“I don’t know,” Cage spits and yeah, that could be pretty scary when one end of the scale is keeping people in cages. Cages he had apparently named his son after.

Monty would like to be disowned now, please.

Suddenly, Cage looks triumphant. “Or - or I could say it’s your fault. It is your fault! You were sneaking around at night. I just have to punish you and – and I won’t be in any trouble.”

It’s not a conclusion Monty is thrilled about, especially not when Cage transfers his hold to just one arm and opens the wire door of an empty cage. Monty fights, but Cage is bigger, older and more insane.

“I’ll come and let you out in the morning,” Cage tells Monty with a smile. “There isn’t much danger of you being picked for transfusion, not in your pajamas, but if you are, hey, it’s an honest mistake, Father can’t be angry for us using any data we get from that.”

“Transfusion?” Monty asks in horror, but Cage is already walking away, humming.

“They drain your blood and put it in someone else,” a Grounder in the cage next to him says in a whisper. He’s young, Monty’s age or below. Apparently, Dante’s policy of not experimenting on children only counts when they have a limited supply. “Hello, Monty,” the Grounder says.

“I’m sorry?” Monty doesn’t recognize him as one of Podakru, but now he looks he sees the fish scale tattoo running up the boy’s left arm.

“You were unconscious when we met,” the Grounder says. “I’m Tomos.”

 

Murphy makes a point of keeping his head high as Indra leads him through the Grounder camp. There’s a chance this second or seken thing is just an excuse to let the Grounders get hold of him to punish him themselves.

Still better than staying.

Unless they decide to kill him.

They’re still clearing away the remains of the burnt tents and Murphy is certain some of the whispers and shouts are accusations about that. He’ll take that credit.

Indra leads him to a cleared area where a few of her warriors, she keeps calling them gunners even though they have no guns, are training. She’s had a tight grip on Murphy’s shoulder the whole way, which she now uses to shove him stumbling into the middle of the training field.

Murphy regains his balance, turning in a circle to try and avoid putting his back to anyone.

He doesn’t understand Indra’s instructions to the gonas in Grounder, but then she looks directly at Murphy and gives an order.

“Yu throu daun. You fight.”

 

Jasper finds Monty first, of course.

He never stopped looking.

He finds him in the library.

In the back of a book, a scribbled map with notes in Monty’s handwriting.

Jasper reads the book and tries to figure out how to get to him. He understands why Monty choose it to keep the map in.

He has to explain to Octavia what a rabbit is. It’s weird, Basic Earth Skills that must have been taught to Bellamy before Octavia was old enough for him to pass on his lessons and then it just never came up. He’s pretty sure they ate rabbit with Podakru, that Octavia saw the bodies being prepared. His teachers had videos.

The only word Octavia knew them by was the Grounder _thumpa_.

Jasper relates to Hazel, knows without a doubt Monty is his Fiver. His clever, clever brother that others overlook.

He thinks that makes Maya Hyzenthlay, the brave Efrafan doe who organizes an escape with Hazel. She and Hazel are together by the end of the book.

There doesn’t seem to be a part for Octavia.

Unless she’s the seagull.

Jasper writes a message back to Monty and puts the book back, checks everyday, hoping for something.

He doesn’t get it.

One night he wakes to find Octavia missing from their bed, finds her being dragged through the door, struggling between two guards. She has a bruise on her face, but one of the guards has been stabbed in the shoulder and the other has claw marks from her fingernails across his cheek.

Jasper jumps up and grabs her when they let go, holding her back from going after the guards as they leave. “Shush, shush,” he tells her, hugging her until she calms and twists to hug him back.

“I didn’t find Monty,” Octavia tells him miserably.

“It’s okay,” Jasper tells her. “It’s okay.” He knows they’re being listened to. He needs to show her the map.

Their door is locked at night after that.

 

Crouching in a tiny wire cage isn’t the best situation and Monty doesn’t even recognize Tomos, but he’s so, so glad to see him. They spend the rest of the night talking. Monty tells him about Podakru, what little happened in the time he stayed with them and Tomos tells him about the Delinquents, apparently an epic tale of love, betrayal and copious amounts of violence.

Sounds about right.

They bounce ideas about Mount Weather off each other, feeling more and more hopeless the longer they go without a solid plan.

Monty needs Jasper for this. Monty might be the one with the ideas, but Jasper’s the one who works out how to make those ideas real. He thinks Octavia might turn out to be good at doing the real stuff. They’ve made a good team before.

Once.

When they ended up soaked to the skin in an alien place and walked straight into the next prison.

Okay, maybe not such a good team.

But a team.

And it’s the only one he’s got.

When Cage comes back to let him out, Monty doesn’t want to go. He pretends the reluctance is fear, begs Cage never to do it again, please, he’ll be good, he’ll tell Dante whatever Cage wants.

If he’s going to do stuff to get punished, may as well make the punishment something he mainly enjoys.

He’s done playing by Dante Wallace’s rules.

And he certainly isn’t replacing them with Cage’s.

 

Monty is lying on his bed reading, there’s very few books aimed at children, this one is called _The Clue of the Dancing Puppet_ and is about a girl called Nancy who solves mysteries. It’s not as useful for his current situation as he might have hoped. He’d have appreciated a description of how to pick a manual lock or something.

There’s a clunk from the wall and Monty slowly lowers the book.

Octavia is grinning at him from the vent.

He opens his mouth and she presses a finger to her lips, gesturing for a pen. Monty gives her one, lingering on her hand just to make sure she’s real, then offers the book as well.

_They’re listening,_ Octavia writes, then, _FOUND YOU!_

Monty gives her a double thumbs up and mouths, _Jasper?_

_Hes good,_ Octavia scribbles quickly. _Library. Waiting for us. No bugs._ She adds an arrow from _no bugs_ to _library._

Monty nods and Octavia hands him back the book and pen. He starts to write the question of how they’re going to get them when she beckons him, then vanishes into the duct.

Why is Monty’s life like this? Most people manage to get along without needing to follow crazy girls into enclosed spaces.

 

Murphy is pushing himself to his feet, wiping blood out of his eyes, for what feels like the thousandth time when Indra calls a stop. He still goes after the nearest gona though.

Indra brings Murphy down again easily, pressing a boot to his throat. “Do yumi need to have a lesson hashta the meaning of odon? Em sei stop.” she tells him calmly.

“No,” he spits, once he’s checked all his options for continuing.

“No, seda,” Indra corrects him and keeps her boot there until he repeats it. There’s no respect in his tone, but she knows that’s going to take time.

She lets him up.

Murphy spits blood onto the floor of the training court. “So,” he drawls, “that was fun. Am I sufficiently punished for your tents now?”

“That was not sichplei,” Indra tells him, walking away and forcing him to jog to stay with her. “Yu will always, otaim, get when ai bilaik punishing yu. Den was the start, stoda, of yu granplei, yu training.”

“Cool,” Murphy says. “Clarke’s going to kill me if I fuck up my arm any more though.”

“Clarke is no yu problem.” Indra stops abruptly and stares at him intensely. He’d drawn quite a crowd by the time she decided he was done and many of her gonas had been overjoyed to have a chance at the boy who burnt their possessions. He hadn’t shown any fear the whole time, so why would Clarke worry him? “Yu arm will fis. Em will bilaik shorter than em was an reya, but it will fis. Yu are too much of a kika to let that frag yu op.”

“Kicker?” Murphy asks. “I heard some of your people say that earlier, when I was fighting, started chanting it and shit. Kicker – kicker bug? What’s that mean?”

“Emo are yu kru nau,” Indra says. “They tag yu in kikabug. It mean cockroach.”

Murphy smirks. “Cool arm and a cool nickname. I shoulda been born a Grounder. This is badass.”

Indra cracks a rare smile. “Sha, badas kikabug.”

 

Jasper and Monty don’t let go of each other for a long time. When Monty tells them about being in the cage, Jasper’s grip tightens to the point of being painful. Monty loves it.

“We have to get a message to Clarke,” Monty says, because apparently their new mission on the ground is to run from danger to danger, finding something worse to tell Clarke about each time. “If anyone can get us out, it’s her.”

Neither of the others disagree. None of them are likely to forget how Clarke led them through the river, through the fog, into the lake and then wouldn’t allow herself to rest until she knew everyone else was safe as well. Survival had been impossible, but Clarke’s will had been stronger.

They _believe_ in her.

“So, if we can’t cause trouble,” Octavia says, “What can we do?”

Monty shakes his head. “The Mountain has tech, radios, but Clarke doesn’t, we can’t use those. Something big enough for her to see would need to be both outside and fast, there’s too much information. A letter? But we have no way of delivering it. The only option that I can see is one of us getting out alone and going to her.”

“Why do they have to be alone?” Octavia asks. She’s not been quite as clingy as the other two, but she’s sitting much closer than she needs to so Monty’s knee is in contact with hers.

“Because if we all go they’ll hunt us down no matter what,” Monty explains. “We’d have to split up, reduce the chances of being caught - but we wouldn’t all make it. If they still have two safely under guard, the hunt for the third will be less critical. Remember, they think we can save their lives.”

Octavia sets her jaw. “I want to be the third.”

To her surprise neither argue, citing the danger like Bellamy would. “You’ll have to be,” Jasper agrees. “Monty is in a position to get Dante and maybe Cage’s trust, he has to stay.”

“What about you?” Monty asks.

Jasper grins. “I’m going to cause trouble.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the Watership Down nerdery thrown in there. If the show can art geek its way through such subtle background symbolism as that painting that's used in everything showing Kronos eating his children behind Dante ...
> 
> Besides can you deny the joy in imagining Jaha as an angry oversized rabbit?
> 
> I hope Indra's weird mix of Trigedasleng and English is understandable. She's basically trying to teach by immersion very quickly, by the end of the week Murphy can basically understand it when it's spoken to him, but can only speak a handful of sentences. His grammar is terrible, but he can patch together the words he knows to make himself understood for when those sentences aren't enough. She tells her people not to use English with him, but to respond to his English. Second step would be stopping responding when he spoke English.
> 
> I found some of my notes from when I was writing this ... Highlights include:  
> Monty is ~~sad~~ very sad.  
> Jasper meets Maya.  
> Octavia meets air ducts.
> 
> Player: Murphy  
> Achievement Unlocked: Be Adopted By The Grounders
> 
> Player: Jasper  
> Achievement Unlocked: I Aim To Misbehave
> 
> Player: Jackson  
> Achievement Unlocked: Carrier Pigeon - deliver 3/3 messages.
> 
> Player: Octavia  
> Achievement Unlocked: Call A Rabbit A Smeerp


	6. Kajbreika

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a Trigedasleng title that can be understood by saying it out loud.
> 
> Cage Breaker.
> 
> From here on out, things are going to steadily get - well, kinkier. They just find themselves stumbling deeper and deeper. It mirrors the way they stumbled deeper into war with the Grounders in canon. Exertion of control, particularly over pain, is absolutely a coping mechanism for trauma.
> 
> It's why I'm writing this after all.

Bellamy is pretty sure it’s an eternity until Harper shows up with the key.

“About time,” he snaps.

Harper looks unimpressed and dangles the key just out of his reach.

Immediately, Bellamy gives her an expression like a puppy that knows it’s not allowed on the furniture, but it’s so _comfortable_. “Sorry.”

She unlocks him, because she was going to anyway, not because of those stupid big brown eyes.

“Look,” Harper says, as he struggles into a shirt, biting back any response to the pain. “You’re going to need supplies, right? There’s a tent - you’ve been away so long - it’d be easier if I just led you there?”

Bellamy hadn’t actually given any thought to supplies, but it’s a good point, running out into the woods with no more information than west and the clothes he’s standing in might not be the best course of action. He grabs one of the little first aid packs Jackson has been putting together to take outside the camp and nods. “Lead on.”

It’s midday so the camp is pretty quiet, most people resting, eating lunch or out of camp for the day. Harper knows what routes to take to avoid anyone and shockingly one of Bellamy’s plans goes perfectly.

The supply tent is a new addition, a mix of tarpaulin and leather over a wooden frame in a dome shape. It’s miles better than anything Bellamy’s leadership had managed to produce. He kind of resents it.

Bellamy shoves the blanket curtain aside and ducks in, blinking to adjust from the brightness.

It turns out to be a trap.

“Bellamy,” Clarke says, cheerfully, “have a seat.”

Harper gives him a little push towards an empty seat, pressing down on a section of bruises he’d rather she hadn’t. Bellamy sits, while Harper perches on some kind of food container. At least she hadn’t lied about it being a storage tent, even if it’s also currently storing Clarke’s entire council - and Finn for some reason.

Finn has made the executive decision to forego a shirt.

“Harper,” Bellamy says clearly, “go float yourself.”

“Tell me one thing I said that wasn’t true,” Harper says, crossing her legs and smirking.

“Hey!” Finn interrupts. “How come when she tells half-truths it’s cute, but when I do it …”

“Because she knows how to pick her targets,” Wells explains in an undertone. “Shush, I want to see his face when Clarke …”

Clarke clears her throat and both go quiet very quickly. “Bellamy, we’ve found out where Octavia is and we want to get her out.”

“I know,” Bellamy says immediately, “I wasn’t going to Podakru. I know she’s in Mount Weather.”

Turning slowly, Clarke looks at Harper who won’t meet her eyes, then it’s Hainofi who glares around the room. “Anything else I should know about? Because I swear the next thing that gets left out of a report …” She hesitates, not actually sure what threat to make.

“The only thing they’ll be reporting is exactly how many, uh …” Bellamy pokes the nearest sack. “Nuts we’ve got exactly?” He shrugs when everyone looks at him oddly. “It’s doable, it’s boring, it’s not entirely pointless, though unnecessary - it’s not severe enough to stop it if they’ve got a better reason than it makes them sound better, uh, it’s irrelevant to saving Octavia?”

Clarke shakes her head. “I don’t - I don’t need someone to tell me how to punish people,” she tells him, as though she’s trying to persuade both herself and the rest of the room. “Bellamy, what exactly was your plan? And if it can be summarized as ‘go to Mount Weather, save Octavia’ don’t bother answering.”

Bellamy doesn’t bother to answer.

Wells hands something up to Harper. “Told you,” Harper says smugly.

“Why do you bet against her, ever?” Miller asks.

“Next person to say something that isn’t explaining what’s going on,” Bellamy tells them, folding his arms, “I’m going to punch. I have spent much more of my time recently in Murphy’s presence than I would ever choose and …”

Everyone nods in solidarity.

“You’re going to work for us,” Clarke informs Bellamy. “With us. Because I know no one is going to be more committed to taking down Mount Weather and because I don’t need a loose cannon wandering the battlefield.”

“Battlefield?” Finn mutters and Wells helpfully punches him in the arm before Bellamy has to make the effort of standing up.

“They have my people,” Hainofi says. “I made the mistake of giving them away. Anyone who stands between me and them - well, you understand Bellamy, Wells still has a limp. I don’t like you, Blake, I certainly don’t trust you, but I know you. And I own you.”

She holds up a hand when Bellamy opens his mouth to protest.

“I decided on your punishment,” she tells him. “Two hundred and twenty lives. Two hundred and twenty days. You will work off your debt. At the end of each day you complete, fully, with no mistakes, you’ll come to me and I’ll tattoo a tally into your skin, a permanent reminder. When there are two hundred and twenty it ends. 

“You choose at the start of the day if you want to try and earn one. If you do, you serve.

“Since your crime wasn’t against a specific person, you will serve everyone or at least anyone who cares to give you an order. 

“No, don’t start arguing, there’s limits. Lots of limits on that. It’s basically only assigning tasks or showing respect, nothing dangerous or sexual or well, lots of things.

“No one will have the right to punish you for refusing, either, they have a problem with you, they come to me, I hear your side and from anyone else who was present. If I decide it’s a fair complaint, that’d be a failed day, no tally. If I decide it’s unfair, you still get your tally and depending on the situation the accuser might be punished. If the complaint is severe enough or you get multiple fair complaints you might be punished beyond losing the tally.

“I’m asking a lot here, Bellamy. I know. It’s not going to be quick or easy. It’s not something you can just sit back and take. You’ll hate me at times and probably hate other people too. You can walk away at any time, no one’s going to force you. Even if you stay, you never have to ask to earn a single one. There will be a clear distinction to everyone on which days are and aren’t, Raven suggested a collar, but that’s because she’s a perv.”

“Love you too,” Raven calls and makes a heart shape with her fingers.

Clarke ignores her. “I won’t tolerate anyone making fun of you for it. Bellamy, this doesn’t work if you don’t work to make it. If there’s no chance of you doing this for one day let alone two hundred and twenty, tell me now … I won’t offer an alternative. It’s this or nothing.”

Bellamy closes his eyes, it’s easier without seeing them all watching. “Two hundred and twenty two. That’s how many I’ve killed. Two hundred and twenty two tally marks.” It’s as close to yes as he can manage.

He jumps when Clarke wraps her arms around him. “Thank you,” she tells him. “You’ve started - the way you’ve been going -”

“I know, I don’t want to keep going either,” Bellamy confesses to her shoulder, “but, Clarke - you made a hell of a mess of my back, please let go.”

She backs away quickly. “Okay, that can be announced … wait, no, you’re supposed to have run away.”

Raven steps in. “Clarke did a great job of explaining whatever kinky stuff you’re getting up to when I’m busy with actual work, but we have the start of a plan to get our people out of Mount Weather. There’s one major issue – currently that plan – I can’t believe I’m saying this, because people keep doing this and I’ve always been the one going ‘well, obviously that’s the flaw, why didn’t you just leave that bit out,’ but – urgh – this plan – relies on _Murphy_.”

 

Murphy is woken by a bucket of cold water being poured over him. He yelps and jumps to his feet to come face to face with an impassive Indra.

“Fucking bitch!” he yells at her, shaking himself ineffectively.

She puts the bucket over his head and he winces when an attempt at continuing to yell just hurts his ears. Once he’s been silent long enough for her satisfaction, she removes it again.

Murphy immediately opens his mouth and Indra raises the bucket in a silent threat. He eyes it warily and says, almost politely, “Do you want something?”

“Chit yu gaf, seda,” Indra says, then waits in silence until he repeats it.

He doesn’t. “Oh, I’m sorry. Seda. I didn’t realise passing out in exhaustion after fighting your entire floating army was against the rules. Seda. You didn’t give me any other orders. Seda. So, with exactly as much respect as you deserve, seda, go fuck yourself. Release some of that tension.”

Indra calmly puts the bucket down and the lack of response is somehow worse than when she casually hits him. “I understand that you do not yet know all our rules,” Indra tells him. “It is customary for a seken to remain with their seda at all times, unless told otherwise. Now that order has been given and you know to follow it.”

Murphy waits for the catch.

“I do not believe that you believed taking a nap was what I intended for you to do, but as I did not say otherwise, that is forgiven,” Indra continues.

“You’re still gonna punish me though,” Murphy says, watching her closely. “For the disrespect – seda.”

“You learn quickly,” Indra says.

“Never heard that one before,” he answers, still on edge. “Usually it’s more like calling me unteachable. Refuses to learn.”

She looks at him as though she can see him the way he sees others. “No one is unteachable. You have had poor teachers.”

 

It’s almost laughably easy for Monty to get Dante and Cage to trust him. The real turning point is when he figures out they both have a cruel streak.

Then he just has to pretend to have one too.

Dante has an antique sword in his office. Monty can imagine Jasper waving it around to fight off imaginary enemies. He pretends a fascination for it, letting his eyes drift to it, standing deliberately close, snatching his hand away a beat too slowly when Cage or Dante look in his direction. He knows it’s worked when Dante chuckles and says Cage was just the same at Monty’s age and that he shouldn’t touch it because it was old and valuable.

Monty honestly couldn’t give a floating fuck if it had single-handedly turned the course of World War Two, but he asks about its history, about its type, about how it was used. He can probably count the damn thing as one of his expertises after a while.

What’s weird is Cage’s reaction to it. If he was as obsessed as Dante claims, why won’t he acknowledge it’s existence except to slap Monty’s hands away from it now?

With an apparent interest in common, however, Cage starts spending more time with Monty. That is to say any time. Possibly he’s just scared Monty will still tell Dante he knows about the Harvest, but he seems actually enthusiastic to teach Monty about his concerning collection of guns and knives.

He even has a case of Grounder weapons that he can’t open because of the radiation still clinging to them.

Monty doesn’t get it, but he learns to dismantle, clean, mantle, load and finally fire a gun. Even firing at an outline on paper makes him feel sick, but he grins and laughs.

Cage pats him on the shoulder and it’s the first contact they’ve had that wasn’t painful or restraining.

Monty doesn’t flinch.

He meets with Jasper and Octavia in the library whenever they can and when they can’t leaves them messages behind the thick book of Shakespeare that no one ever takes out. The day he finds Maya’s music player he knows it’s time to put their plan into motion.

Monty won’t see them again until they’re all free.

If it goes right.

 

Jasper holds on to the music player for a long time before he can bring himself to open his hand and leave it on the shelf. With every second he lingers he hopes Monty will appear, even though he knows Monty is suffering through family dinner with Cage and Dante right now. He needs to be.

Monty needs an alibi.

Neither Octavia nor Maya try to hurry him, though they have little time. They glance at each other, then simultaneously place a hand on each of his shoulders. It’s enough to give Jasper the strength to let go.

“Okay,” he says, turning with a sharp grin. “Let’s cause some chaos.”

Octavia’s job is to run and hide, she’d been less than happy about this, but she hauls herself up into the vents to gather as many of her caches as she can carry. Maya kisses Jasper, lingering nearly as long as he had on the music player. When she pulls away there’s tears in her eyes.

“It’ll be fine,” Jasper tells her. “There’s nothing to connect you to any of this.”

Maya smiles. “If you think that’s what I’m worried about, you’re an idiot, Jasper Jordan.”

“What’s the worst they can do to me?” Jasper asks, smiling back, loving her bravery. “Run experiments they were going to run eventually? They can’t afford to kill me and I can take whatever else the bastards can do.”

“Be care-” Maya cuts herself off. “Okay, don’t be careful, because none of this counts as that, but you know what I mean.”

“I love you,” Jasper says for the first time.

Maya’s expression turns to anger and she punches his chest. She’s not strong enough for it to actually hurt, even with nearly all her strength behind it. Her strength isn’t physical. “Don’t you dare, don’t you dare say that to me. Not now. Not at this moment.” She presses her head to his chest to hear his heartbeat. “Not when - not when - you bastard. If you didn’t I could pretend - this is hard enough.”

Jasper wraps his arms around her.

“I love you too,” she whispers.

 

Monty slips the music player into his pocket. He’s here too early. He’d know if Jasper had succeeded.

It’d be hard to miss.

Which means he needs to get to Cage or Dante fast.

It’s impossible for Jasper to have done this without inside help and the suspect pool is very limited. Monty isn’t sure that Dante and Cage even know about Jasper’s flirtation with Maya and if they do, the pair have had a very public breakup over Jasper’s uncivilised behaviour towards her.

With Maya apparently furious and Monty apparently slowly forgetting about him, Jasper’s ‘uncivilised behaviour’ has been steadily getting worse and worse. It’s a long game, longer than any of them would like.

Octavia on the other hand has been getting quieter and quieter, shrinking into the background. You’d barely even notice if she wasn’t there.

Especially if Jasper was yelling in your face.

Monty stops outside Dante’s office, just because it’s closer and knocks on the door, waiting for the instruction to enter. He’s never quite dared to wonder what would happen if he didn’t, instead amusing himself by imagining that Dante uses the pause to hide all traces of the tiara and feather boa combination he obviously wears because it makes him feel powerful.

It’s more likely he’s hiding paperwork or blood.

“Monty,” Dante says in surprise, “I just saw you at dinner? Was there something?”

Monty hadn’t actually thought as far as that.

Then Dante gives him a lifeline.

“Is this about Cage?”

 

They’re running behind time.

Jasper sets up what he can, but he has to prioritize. One much bigger mess to make.

This is all just window dressing.

Maya can make it look like he had time to do much more.

There’s someone in the infirmary.

A man, maybe a decade older than him, lying in a hospital bed with a tube feeding the blood of an innocent into him. Unconscious. Helpless.

Jasper doesn’t kill him.

Not immediately.

He yanks out the tube and blood sprays everywhere, drenching Jasper and the room and the man who starts convulsing. The monitor next to his bed panics, screaming an alarm.

Someone will be here soon.

Maybe they’ll save him.

Jasper doesn’t care.

 

“Yes, sir,” Monty says carefully, wrapping his hands behind his back and letting his nervousness show. “There’s … something I found out …” He keeps his pauses as long as he can manage without making Dante too impatient, suspicious is a lost cause.

Dante smiles emptily. “You can tell me about anything, Monty.”

That is so incredibly untrue that Monty wants to laugh. Instead he continues, “He told me not to tell you, sir. But … but I couldn’t … I mean, obviously you know about it already.”

Now that has Dante’s interest, he likes being told he knows things.

“I didn’t say anything before because … because I was kind of … not where I was supposed to be when I found out …”

He pinpoints the exact moment Dante works it out for himself. It’s perfect. Now all Monty has to do is confirm his suspicions … and deal with Cage’s reaction later.

“I was, uh, exploring and there was an open door in the infirmary.” Cage hadn’t asked how Monty had got in and if Dante thinks it was due to Cage’s irresponsibility all the better. “I saw … the Outsiders.” Now he just has to make think Dante he doesn’t mind. “And I panicked a bit … I kind of thought I was going in a cage.” Selfish, good. “I don’t belong with monsters.” The monsters are not the ones in cages. “Cage caught me and …” Monty thinks of Tomos and sobs. “He left me in one overnight. Please don’t let him put me back. He said he would if I told you, but … but you’re the one in charge here, right? You can stop him?”

Dante is loving this.

Monty wishes he wasn’t loving this quite as much himself.

Dante walks round his desk and puts a possessive hand on Monty’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Monty. I won’t let Cage do that to you again.”

That’s when the explosion happens.

 

Jasper hadn’t yet had a chance to see the Harvest Chamber and now he has he knows it’s going to feature in his nightmares for some time. He doesn’t bother looking for keys, just uses a fireaxe to smash the locks. Some of those he frees are strong enough to help him. He recognizes the marks of different krus, mainly Trikru, but those divides don’t matter now. He looks for Tomos.

Tomos notices him first, pushing himself forward to hug Jasper.

They’d barely spoken before Tomos had left with Shel, Clarke and Finn.

But Jasper knows his little brother, Persi and that he’d helped Monty deal with being put in here and that’s good enough for him. They don’t have time. “Tomos, can you tell them to get back? Stand against the wall closest to the door and close it, but not leave?”

Tomos doesn’t ask questions or hesitate and Jasper likes him even more. He climbs to the top of a stack of cages and addressed the Grounders in their own language. Jasper grins and climbs the stack opposite him.

Nearly everyone follows Tomos’ instructions, though a few vanish through the door, choosing vengeance over escape. Jasper has trouble thinking they made the wrong choice. After all, he’s not planning on getting out either.

It’s not clear who starts the shout, but the Outsiders begin chanting “Kajbreika! Kajbreika!” Even with his limited Trigedasleng it’s understandable.

But cages aren’t the only things he can break.

Jasper raises the device he’s made, clicks it on and throws it as hard and as far as he can towards the circular tower part of the construction. It soars neatly through the rails of the balcony, dropping out of sight. Graceful slow motion.

Then it explodes and Jasper is hurled backwards from his makeshift podium.

Clarke had better not miss that.

 

One day, about a week since he left, Clarke is the one to visit Murphy to check his cast.

She’s obviously got another reason to be here and Murphy doesn’t trust her.

She raises an eyebrow at the cuts and bruises covering him and the other one joins it when he removes his shirt.

“Enjoying the view, princess?” Murphy asks. He’s the only one to call her that as an insult now.

“Miller said you picked Indra because you didn’t approve of his suggested methods of punishment,” Clarke says, forcibly neutral.

“This isn’t punishment,” he says, grinning. “This is fun.”

Atom snorts and Murphy glares over at him. The bastard’s wearing one of Miller’s uniforms now. Not that Miller would admit to having a uniform. Guess his loyalty had gone the same way as Bellamy, off into the woods on a suicide mission.

Still two guards seems like overkill. Murphy isn’t planning on doing shit to Clarke and if they’re for the Grounders, they’re so outnumbered it becomes a joke.

“Why don’t you share it with the class?” Murphy tells Atom sarcastically.

“Wouldn’t have taken you for a masochist,” Atom says, “but it explains a hell of a lot.”

Murphy is on his feet in a moment, only stopped by the fact Clarke’s grip tightens slightly on his injured arm. “You know I’m not a masochist, Atom,” he snaps. “Screw the pain, it’s the fight that matters, but a dog that rolls over for any master wouldn’t understand that.”

Miller puts a hand on Atom’s chest to stop him stepping forward. “Fight in your own time, boys.”

“All my time is my own time,” Murphy boasts.

Atom snorts again. “Right, and you haven’t been back to camp once, because Indra has you whipped.”

“Stand down.” Miller steps into front of Atom. “Unless you’re angling for a whipping yourself?”

Atom glares past him. “Hey, Murphy, woods at the east edge of our camp, meet you there after - if your Grounder _mom_ says you can come out to play and you want to take a little pain.”

Miller shoves Atom back and Atom raises his hands. “I’m done, I’m done.”

Miller nods then turns to catch Murphy around the waist and deposit him back to Clarke, standing over him until she’s done with a glare.

“Hey, Clarke,” Murphy says, when Atom manages to keep his mouth shut long enough to make glaring at him boring. “Flattered to see the great Hainofi in person and all, but why the jok are you here?”

“I have a meeting with Indra, Anya and Kali,” Clarke tells him. “Didn’t seem any point in sending Jackson to make the trip when I’m here already.”

Murphy is sure that isn’t the whole story, but whatever, Delinquent/Grounder politics is almost as boring as the meetings Indra makes him sit through. Oh, great, he’s going to have to sit through this one, isn’t he?

And Atom is going to think he’s a joke.

That he’s _tame_.

Float that.

And float the meeting, he’s had a better offer.

 

“So, hows the fit?” Raven asks and Wells tries to hide his laugh.

Bellamy glares at him, he’s on edge as it is, he’s had nothing to do for a week but wait and make everyone think he’s already gone after Octavia. He’s not sure why he hasn’t … possibly because Clarke might think twice about her tally mark offer. But getting Murphy on their side is in no way worth any of this. Raven probably suggested this as a distraction, but all it’s doing is winding Bellamy tighter.

“It’s a floating collar, it fits around my neck and feels weird.”

Finn isn’t even bothering to hide his snickering. “Not sure how I feel about Raven putting – pf, a collar on someone else.”

Raven rolls her eyes at all three of them. “Don’t let me spoil your fun if you’re dumb enough to think Clarke’s rule about making fun of him about this doesn’t apply to us too.” Her voice cracks with the strain of not joining them.

Bellamy pulls the stupid thing off and throws it at Wells who had the misfortune to be on the side of the hand he used. He starts a couple of attempts at sentences, then gives up, turning to leave.

Finn steps in his way. “Calm down, Bell. You don’t look stupid. Really.” He’s working on the truth thing so Bellamy knows he should stay and listen to the whole bit, but he’s not in the mood.

“Looking stupid is the point,” Bellamy retorts. “It’s - it’s a symbol of - stuff.”

“That’s not why it’s funny,” Wells says, offering the collar back to him. “It’s funny because it’s - terrifying.” The other two nod. “You’re braver than I am. Stupider too.”

“If you’d killed anyone, you’d get it,” Bellamy crowds into Wells’ personal space.

“I get it,” Finn says quietly. “So does Wells. We - tally of four doesn’t come close, but ...”

“None of us could sign up for this,” Raven concludes. “Not just to be a better person. Kinda ... jealous even.”

“I could,” Wells admits. “Not ... for anyone.”

“Clarke,” Finn agrees.

Raven rolls her eyes hard enough her head moves with them. “Yes, you’re right, Clarke is the queen of the universe and we should all just kneel at her feet and be her obedient slaves. Boys.”

Bellamy tilts his head and pretends to look unconvinced. “Wouldn’t you though? Really? I mean, she’s an arrogant bitch, but the view from there would be good ...”

Shaking her head, but grinning, Raven gives him a little shove. “Put the damn collar back on and this time stick to telling me if you can still breathe.”

 

Clarke enters the meeting tent with Miller one step behind her. He takes up station at her left shoulder, slipping into an Ark parade rest. They could be there a while.

Kali’s seken at her left shoulder frowns at his stillness, then glances suspiciously at Kali as though she might start expecting it of him. Anya’s seken doesn’t look up from where she’s sitting on the floor. Indra’s seken is loudly and visibly absent.

“Where’s Murphy?” Clarke asks Indra innocently. “I sent him ahead once I’d done with his arm and was still clearing up.”

A muscle in Indra’s jaw twitches.

Clarke nods in understanding. “Thank you again for taking him, it was a brave choice.”

Miller doesn’t miss the way Indra’s hand tightens on her sword hilt, but knows she won’t actually draw it, apparently this fight is only allowed to be fought with insults wrapped in politeness. He doesn’t get it.

Anya shoves herself off the tent pole she was leaning against to pat Indra’s shoulder consolingly. “When you give up on him, try to make sure he goes to someone who can handle him.” Her smirk does nothing to soften the barb.

“Ah, yes, your seken would never miss a meeting, Anya,” Indra counters and Anya’s smirk vanishes.

“Disrespect to the Heda isn't tolerated,” Anya snarls.

“Are you the Heda?” Indra asks. “Forgive me, I hadn't heard about your Conclave. I didn't mention Heda Lexa.”

Miller catches Kali’s eye and they share an amused grin.

“Heda Lexa was your seken?” Clarke asks, breaking up the argument, because she’s a responsible adult who wants to do the boring meeting bit.

“Sha,” says Anya, but nothing more on the subject. She glares at Kali whose grin doesn’t fade.

Okay, Miller has to see if he can get Kali to tell him that story.

 

Atom is waiting for Murphy at the back of some Delinquent tents. Murphy grins to himself at the thought that a tent could be delinquent.

“Knew you’d come,” Atom says with a grin of his own. “You’re just a bitch who wants to be put in his place.”

Murphy doesn’t bother talking, Atom wants a fight, he’s got one.

It’s definitely embarrassing how quickly Atom manages to restrain him. He’d been expecting Atom to try and knock him down, get him on the floor and pin him. It’s been his favored tactic before.

Just because the fights don’t ever teach him not to fight, that doesn’t mean they don’t teach him to fight better next time.

Instead Atom twists his uninjured arm up behind Murphy’s back and pulls. Kicking, Murphy stumbles when Atom chooses that exact moment to start pushing him forward, forcing him somewhere.

Murphy fights harder. “Get off me, you sick fuck - where are we going? Decide you want an audience all of a sudden? Hey, whatever gets you off, man - never took you for the type to be all flowers and silk sheets, the more you know -”

Atom shoves him through the curtain into one of the storage tents, letting Murphy go. Immediately, Murphy spins, fists up, until someone grabs his arms from behind and brings them together behind his back.

Spitting and struggling, Murphy twists to find it’s Bellamy.

Of course it is. If there’s anyone who wants revenge on Murphy it’s him. Atom is even an obvious choice as the only person in camp still loyal to him. Murphy has just happily strolled into the most obvious trap ever.

“Wow,” Raven says, “That worked. Suddenly, I’m even less happy with the fact we need him, I didn’t think that was possible.”

Okay, Raven is not one of Bellamy’s.

Nor, now that Murphy pays more attention is Wells.

This is Clarke’s trap.

 

“Still no sightings of Bellamy?” Clarke asks.

Kali shakes her head. “If em went west, em no come back. No one ever comes back, not as em.”

Clarke aims for a mixture of sad and relieved. “The supplies he took will have run out by now. If he was planning on returning for more … nothing else has gone missing.”

No one tries to comfort her. None want to celebrate a death, but it must be a relief to them as well.

“And the - your decision on our status?” Clarke asks, knowing there’s no chance they’ll have come to an agreement that suits them all until she does something major to change minds.

“Guess,” Anya tells her, not bothering with the pretense of politeness.

Then again she does that with everyone as far as Clarke can tell.

Clarke just needs to spin this meeting out until …

She leans over the map and points. “Some of our builders have been talking about clearing woodland here …”

That should be enough to start a fight.

 

“You want me to do what?” Murphy asks. “Do you even have anyone who knows Trigedasleng well enough to translate what you hear? Why does it need to be me?”

“We’re working on that bit,” Wells admits. “And you’re the only one with unrestricted access to the Grounder camp and you’re regularly in the meeting tent.”

“What’s it matter to if you help or not?” Raven asks. “Literally all you need to do is stick this somewhere discreet in the Grounder meeting tent. What we do after that is none of your concern.”

“It’s too iffy. If they find out you know stuff you shouldn’t,” Murphy points out, “they’re going to assume it’s because I told you and even if they find the bug and understand what it is they’re not going to believe the damn thing crawled there itself, nami?”

“Why not?” Raven smirks at him. “I’m a witch. I’ll say I made it fly there on little kikabug wings.”

Murphy considers her for a moment. “Maybe, if there’s something in it for me and there’s no chance of this getting me in trouble.”

“We’re offering our old deal,” Wells tells him. “Not full immunity, none of us want to give you a reason to come back, but neutrality. We don’t owe each other anything, good or bad. Your past crimes are fully forgiven, we never ask anything of you again and you don’t need to ever come back.”

It sounds like a good deal.

Murphy wonders why Bellamy isn’t the one making it, but he supposes Bellamy is too busy looming threateningly behind his shoulder in case he should decide he was suicidal and become a physical threat any time soon.

It’s also not what he wants. He’s been treating the Delinquents as a safety net, for when he really and truly screws things up with Indra. Between crawling back to Clarke and begging to earn forgiveness and being cut loose completely, Murphy knows which he’d prefer, but Wells hadn’t said he couldn’t return, just that if he did he’d already been forgiven and that they couldn’t give him orders.

Murphy’s sure he can ride for a bit on those technicalities when he needs to come back.

“Okay,” he says, spits on his hand and holds it out for Wells to shake.

Wells doesn’t spit, just looks disgusted as he takes it.

Atom snorts. “You know he only did that to gross you out, Chancellor?”

“I’m aware,” Wells replies coldly.

Raven hands over the bug. “Any damage to this I’m taking out of your hide and float Wells’ agreement,” she warns him.

Murphy winks at her. “You want an excuse to put your hands on my hide, you jus’ need to ask, I mean since you and Finn don’t play no more - or at least you’ve changed the game.”

Raven frowns at him, slightly confused. Bellamy shoves the back of Murphy’s head.

Atom has apparently decided his new purpose in life is to lurk at the borders of Murphy’s attention and snort occasionally.

“Atom, you should really go see Jackson if there’s a bit a som’ing stuck up your nose,” Murphy tells him. “You might get lucky and it’s a spare braincell, you need more of those.”

Raven is grinning at him now.

It’s making him uncomfortable.

“Reyes,” Murphy says slowly, “If this bug is about to explode in my pocket and take off an asscheek, beja, don’t be shy to tell me instead of looking far too pleased with yourself.”

“Oh, I’ve figured you out,” Raven tells him, leaning in.

Murphy raises an eyebrow and leans towards her as well. “Good for you. Everyone else here already caught on that I’m a dick. I applaud your genius, tekamin.”

“You’re a sub,” she tells him triumphantly.

“No, I’m not,” Murphy says automatically, not knowing what that means.

Atom’s snorting problem is getting worse. “Dude, yeah you are. Or have you forgotten the times -”

Murphy is up and going after Atom in a heartbeat. Bellamy rolls his eyes and catches him.

“Okay, okay.” Atom shrugs. “If you still won’t admit it, whatever, but you don’t pretend any other parts of you don’t exist, so – I don’t get it. There’s nothing I could tell them they haven’t worked out. It’s been fun, good luck with your Mount Weather thing, Bellamy’s got this under control. Murphy, offer still stands, wasn’t just to get you here, but I’m done waiting for you. You want it, you come to me, or don’t, I won’t drag you.”

It’s one of the longest speeches Murphy’s ever heard him give. Atom gives an odd look to Bellamy, then leaves.

“Uh,” Wells raises his hand. “Few questions. What’s a sub? What exactly is Murphy angry about this time? And – did Atom just break up with him?”

Murphy yanks himself away from Bellamy and slumps back onto his seat. “We weren’t dating, asshat, we fucked. In the past tense. As in, we do not any more, we have not since the floating Ark and we do not intend to do so in the future.” He shrugs. “Atom’s into some weird shit, got it into his head I was screwing him for that rather than his dazzling personality. Mostly it was the easiest way to keep him loyal, back when that mattered. Wasn’t into it, doesn’t matter. Can I go stick your bug somewhere now? Like up Atom’s self absorbed ass?”

It doesn’t exactly help Wells understand the situation, Murphy can tell, but he’s pretty sure he doesn’t care.

Nope, certain he doesn’t care.

He’d only showed up for a fight.

Raven starts explaining some stuff, using a bunch of terms Murphy’s never heard and doesn’t bother to remember. He’s bored already and looks for something more interesting.

Bellamy and Wells are too busy having their perception of the world flipped upside down.

Raven just looks bemused at their confusion. “Bellamy,” she says, “I have literally fitted you for a collar. Wells, you’re all but kneeling at Clarke’s feet already. How do you not know?”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Murphy jumps at the new information. “Bellamy has a collar? That’s hilari -”

Bellamy places his hand flat on Murphy’s scalp, closes his fingers and yanks.

Murphy is almost motivated enough to stop, but … “You jacked that move from Indra,” he tells Bellamy, tone heavily unimpressed. “What color is the collar? You should go for a muddy brown, would really bring out your eyes.”

“Murphy, shut up or I’ll let him put it on you,” Raven tells him.

Murphy does not shut up. “You know, Reyes, I wondered where Finn learned to kneel -”

“Bellamy, do it,” Raven orders and Bellamy’s eyes flick between them for a moment, before deciding she’s serious.

Wells doesn’t protest, but he backs away a little, eyes wide in surprise or horror or whatever. He’s not going to be any help, but at least he’s not helping them.

“You’re bluffing,” Murphy says, confident enough it’s true. “Clarke would never approve of doing anything someone was saying no to.”

“That’s Clarke’s problem,” Raven says coldly.

Murphy glances in Bellamy’s direction and realizes that having been given permission Bellamy has every intention of making it happen.

Great.

Raven isn’t outwardly showing any sign of backing down, but Murphy knows she isn’t willing to do anything someone was saying no to either. So to make her stop, he just has to keep saying no.

“I don’t care what weird power trip you’re on, Reyes, I don’t want that thing anywhere near my neck. Being surrounded by people willing to worship you and the princess on their knees has gone to your head. So, go stick your head out an airlock.”

“You have an airlock somewhere you’re saving for a special occasion, Murphy?” Raven asks. “We’re not on the Ark. Down here Clarke makes the rules. Yeah, she won’t approve of what I’m doing, but if it gets you under control she’ll forgive it. You’re a danger right now, to everyone, I say neutralizing that threat is worth a little punishment, don’t you agree?”

Bellamy is rapidly becoming a bigger threat to Murphy than Raven, he knows there’s no chance of him backing down. Murphy also knows he’s not winning a physical fight against Bellamy, but that’s not going to stop him resisting as long as he can. "You want a little punishment, you've already got a sadist following your orders -"

“Stop,” Raven says and Murphy smirks triumphantly, even if he’s not sure what changed her mind.

Bellamy stops, but doesn’t let go of Murphy entirely. “Raven, you can’t give him any leeway,” Bellamy argues. “I was against offering him neutrality again and this is worse, it’ll make him think he can get away with anything.”

“So that’s why you’ve been playing strong and silent, you usually prefer weak and whiny.” Murphy isn’t overly fond of the idea of baiting Bellamy further, but it might mean he can gauge exactly how much control Raven really has over him.

“I’m not giving him leeway,” Raven tells Bellamy and steps up to stand in front of Murphy, trapping him between them. “He’s the one that needs to stop. Murphy, I gave you a choice. I told you exactly what would happen if you did a specific thing and your response was to do that exact thing. The only conclusion I can come to is that you want to be punished.”

“I don’t hear you calling out Bellamy for wanting to punish me,” Murphy retorts.

“He’s not lying to me about it.” Raven smiles and the genuine kindness is terrifying. “See, Bellamy I figured out right away. Likes hurting people, scared that means he’ll go too far, guilty about the times he has.”

Bellamy opens his mouth to say something, then closes it again, it’s a fair enough assessment and showing distaste for that truth has only ever given Murphy more ammunition - ammunition he’s supposedly been using to make Bellamy want to hurt him more. If anyone in this situation is going to look messed up at the end of this, it’s Murphy.

“That’s good,” Raven says. “Means he’s willing to look for alternatives. Find people who want or need hurting.”

“Congratulations on your promotion to my old attack dog job,” Murphy tells Bellamy, whose grip on his good arm tightens a little.

“He’ll be better at it than you,” Raven informs them both. “First time I met you, I thought you were like Bellamy only without any of the guilt. Nothing to stop you hurting whoever and however. But you’re not. You’re the opposite even, like I said, you want to be punished.”

“I don’t get off on pain,” Murphy says instantly, it’s an accusation that’s been thrown at him before and it’s true, he doesn’t.

Raven shakes her head, though. “Didn’t say pain. I said punishment. Didn’t say it was about getting off either.”

“Pain, punishment, there’s a difference?” Murphy challenges her.

“Yeah, huge one, I’m sorry you haven’t had the chance to learn that,” she says, sounding sympathetic and that’s enough to make Murphy hate her a little more. “So, I get it that you can’t say this is what you want right now. I just want to ask you a question and you can tell me that way, okay? I won’t use this against you again, I promise, but if you want my help I can give that. I’m asking you to trust me, but that’s not the question. If you say no, Bellamy lets you go, no one challenges that and you can walk away, no consequences. Any other response, I’ll take as a yes and he gets to keep going.”

He watches her warily, gauging her sincerity and finds nothing to make him doubt it. He nods.

“Murphy,” Raven asks, gently, “do you want Bellamy to put that collar on you?”

It’s honestly the Bellamy part that decides Murphy’s final answer.

“No.”

 

“No, I will not allow my land to be used to grow food for invaders!” Indra slams her fist down on the table.

“We have no plans for agriculture,” Clarke answers, more calmly, “but our camp is growing and even if it gets no bigger, we all need firewood and replacement -”

Murphy shoves the tent flaps apart, leaving his arms open between them and strides in with a manic grin. It’s quite possibly the most melodramatic entrance Clarke’s ever seen and she was there when he brought Bellamy into camp. There’s a sinking feeling in her stomach, Raven had been right, a plan relying on Murphy was doomed from the start.

Indra’s glare would have quite possibly deterred a charging boar, but not him.

Murphy tosses Raven’s bug onto the table, where it spins for a moment and a bit falls off.

Kali is trembling with the force of not bursting into laughter, Anya looks like she might hit him before Indra gets the chance, the other two sekens have backed away from Murphy as though his insanity might be contagious, Clarke can sense Miller’s tension at her back and she herself feels as though she’s floating on top of a rising tsunami of anger.

Murphy’s grin is the same one he’d had standing before her covered in his own blood, with Bellamy tied at his feet and threatening to keep him.

“This is a bug – that probably doesn’t mean shit to you,” Murphy addresses the Grounders, “So I’ll make it super simple. Hainofi’s Tekamin cast a magic spell and now she can hear everything we say. _Hi, Raven, love you._ See, Hainofi has this crazy plan to rescue three idiots from Mount Weather and she knows you know stuff about it that you’re not telling them. Mistake they made was in thinking I was still one of them. That they could control me. They can’t. _Ai laik Trikru, nou Skaikru. Ai badannes ste kamp raun Trikru. Skaikru drag yumi klin. Ai du ai dula._ ”

Clarke doesn’t understand the specific words, but the meaning is clear, any hope she had that Murphy might feel some loyalty to the Delinquents was false. Murphy turns his grin on her as the three Grounder leaders do the same with cold expressions.

He’s just killed them all.

Anya is the one to step forward to speak first, of course she is, she’s the one who’s wanted them dead from the start.

Clarke waits for the death sentence.

“How can we help you?” Anya asks.

 

Monty is a complete idiot.

Of course the thing Lieutenant Emerson would do once they’d found enough radiation suits and sealed off the area and killed the few Outsiders that had gone the wrong way and caught Jasper was _bring him to Dante_. Not immediately shove him into one of the quarantine rooms as the closest thing they have to a prison with the Harvest Chamber destroyed.

And of course when Dante realized two of his tickets to the outside were missing, along with the infrastructure they’d built as an alternative and the Outsiders they’d spent years of resources capturing - of course he’d insist on keeping Monty right by his side.

Monty hasn’t even had a chance to listen to Jasper’s farewell message and they’re already seeing each other again.

He doesn’t look injured despite being drenched in dried blood, grimy with dust from the explosion and a few grazes, but they must have found Jasper before he was conscious enough to resist. Now though, on his knees with a gun to the back of his head he looks alert enough. Still glaring defiance at Dante Wallace.

Monty has never quite loved him as much as that moment.

His brave, brave brother.

Dante suspects they were working together of course. Though he can’t be sure if Monty’s confession about finding out about the Harvest Chamber is an argument for or against. If Monty’s known about it for a while the coincidence of timing is suspicious, but if Monty’s known about it for a while why would Jasper wait until now and why would Monty confess to knowing.

Monty thinks Dante will conclude that it’s most likely Jasper found out on his own and acted as soon as he did.

But he’s going to test Monty’s loyalty.

It’s the only way to be sure.

Dante likes certainty.

Monty isn’t sure he’s going to pass.

 

Things go quiet and the confinement to quarters is lifted.

Maya comes out into the corridor with just as much curiosity as the others. She’s had a call to assist with radiation clean up, after all it’s her job.

No one questions the radiation suit she puts on with the hood down or the trolley she pushes away from the storage area. There’s no reason to.

Everyone’s in shock, talking about how it was a mistake to ever think bringing unrestrained Outsiders into their homes was an acceptable idea. Everyone’s talking about the dead, the loss, the horror.

Everyone knows Maya used to be close to the Outsider boy until he hurt her. That maybe they should have listened to her when she said he was dangerous. That she must be blaming herself for this.

That all she’s hiding is tears behind a wave of dark hair.

Showing her id badge to a guard who was friends with her mother, was there when she first learned to walk and being waved through immediately with him patting her shoulder sympathetically and her not looking up. He understands she wants to hide the pain and get on with working to fix what she must be thinking of as her mistake.

None of them blame her.

They were all taken in by the Outsider boy’s friendliness too.

Maya’s only crime is getting close enough to him to see past it.

Their crime is not listening when she told them.

Once past the cordon it’s easy.

While tucking it away, Maya fumbles her ID and drops it without noticing. There’s no one to notice it bar the security camera. They’ll have split the ones now outside safety off from the system and turned them off by the time her shift is over.

Later someone will find it and make sure it gets back to her.

Maya pushes the trolley onward, towards the infirmary. There’s no cameras in there any longer. Not after the damage the Outsiders did to anything remotely mechanical.

She parks the trolley next to a couple of others already brought down by others. No point bringing a fully exposed trolley back in.

She pulls a rucksack from the trolley, hoists it onto her back and walks into the destroyed Harvest Chamber. She stoops to pick up a broken bar of one of the cages to use as a makeshift weapon. One end is sharp enough to do some proper damage.

She doesn’t take off the hood until she’s far enough down the side of the Mountain she’s not worried about anyone finding it accidentally.

Octavia squints up at the sky and breaths freely.

 

Raven looks round at the rest of Clarke’s council, Clarke seated in the middle like … well like a Princess.

“You don’t need to tell me I screwed that up,” she admits. “I’m very aware of that.”

“Murphy screwed it up,” Bellamy argues and everyone looks at him standing next to Miller at Clarke’s left shoulder.

“Uh,” Finn asks, “Not to be rude, but since when was Bellamy council?”

No one has an answer to that and Bellamy slightly sheepishly steps away to the side. “I’m just saying Raven is not the one who agreed to do a thing and then did the exact opposite of that. Or the one who needed restraining multiple times. Or the one who insulted everyone in the vicinity multiple times. Or the one who has completely transferred her loyalty to the people threatening to kill us. Or the one who tried to make that threat a reality. Or -”

“Bellamy, shut up,” Wells says. “Murphy is – someone else’s problem now. At least we’ve got that much from this.”

“And an alliance with the Grounders against Mount Weather,” Harper points out.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen those three agree on anything in a meeting,” Clarke says and everyone’s attention snaps onto her. “I thought I couldn’t trust them. I can’t. But - maybe I should have tried asking them first. Then if they deflect questions I can start investigating on my own. I’m not sure any of us are exactly looking good at the end of this.”

“Damn right,” Bellamy mutters.

“Shut up, Bellamy,” Wells and Raven say at the same moment.

“Seriously, why is he still here?” Finn asks, turning fully to face Clarke. “All he’s contributed is random violence and moping.”

“Okay, that’s not quite fair,” Raven says and Bellamy gives her a thankful smile. “That doesn’t put me on your side, Blake, it’s your fault Murphy screwed us over.”

Bellamy splutters defensively.

“How do you mean?” Wells queries. “I mean, sorry if I’m missing something obvious, but all I saw was you telling Bellamy to hurt Murphy while Murphy begged you not to.”

Finn punches Wells.

Miller catches Finn’s arm before he can swing again, holding him in silence.

Hainofi looks at Finn and he folds and Miller immediately lets go.

“I don’t really understand either,” Clarke says. “Like I can - kinda see how the stuff we’re doing has got kinda … uh, kinky, and how I never ever want to try and explain this stuff to my mom, so it’s got to end when the Ark comes down.”

Everyone nods at that, even those without surviving family.

“But I don’t understand Murphy’s deal,” Clarke finishes.

To various levels of surprise, instead of Raven it’s Miller who answers. “Murphy doesn’t understand Murphy’s deal. Like I think he – sees it all as one thing. He thinks that to get the bit he wants he has to put up with the bit he doesn’t want, right? He wants to – to be forgiven for example, he has to take the punishment, but at the same time he’s fighting to avoid that punishment and does more stuff he needs to be forgiven for and it just – spirals.” Miller sighs. “If we’re all on the ‘Murphy is our fault’ train – I might be the reason he went to Indra in the first place. Like Raven was saying he asks for it by fighting against it?” He rubs the spot on his arm Murphy had bitten. “I threatened him and he called my bluff and – it was a bluff and I assumed he was angry because I was kinda meaner than necessary about it and now I’m thinking it would have been kinder to go through with it and -”

“Don’t threaten people unless you’re willing to go through with it,” Bellamy advises.

Wells rubs his leg pointedly.

“I told you, Wells,” Bellamy says defensively. “I was very clear. I don’t know what you thought would happen.”

“I didn’t think you would shoot me!”

Clarke giggles. “No, sorry, not funny, but – Wells, he’s got a point. He was pointing a gun at you and said if you try and stop him, he’ll shoot you. Like – Bellamy’s an ass for doing it, but you should have known what you were signing up for.”

“And that’s Murphy,” Harper says unexpectedly.

Raven and Miller nod.

Clarke gets it, closing her eyes. “Okay, what are we supposed to do about someone who can’t ask for help?”

Finn clears his throat, quietly as though he doesn’t really want to do it. “If – if I’m anything to go by – you take away the choice.”

“No,” Clarke says firmly. “I’m still planning on punishing Raven for forcing him into one, even if it wasn’t the one she expected. I can’t turn around and do the exact same thing.”

“You didn’t force Finn into a choice,” Wells points out. “You gave him the choice to give up being the one to make a type of choice in the future.”

“Which is why it’s Bellamy’s fault my idea failed,” Raven interjects, pointing at him. “What I did wrong was trying to force the answer I wanted, not in asking the question. And I forgot about Murphy and Bellamy’s history. If someone had broken my arm for whatever reason, I sure wouldn’t be quick to trust them with anything near my neck and it’s far more complicated than just that.”

Bellamy does at least look slightly guilty.

“I used Bellamy because he wanted to do it.”

More guilt.

“I couldn’t fight Wells to get him to do it and have any chance of getting Murphy to take me seriously. I’m not physically strong enough to take Murphy in a fight.” Raven shrugs. “Used what I had available. Zero planning. It was reckless and caused more harm. So, yeah, Bellamy, I screwed it up, but you screwed it up first long before I got here.”

“I didn’t know,” Bellamy says blankly.

Miller walks over to him and pulls him into a half hug. “I didn’t either and now we do and – and we should try and fix that mistake? Even if he is an ass.”

“I still say we abandon him to the Grounders,” Wells grumbles. “He seems happy enough there. You know, until we decided to use him and dragged him back into our bullshit.”

“Your bullshit?” Finn asks. “My bullshit I dragged him into got people killed.”

Harper hesitantly raises her hand. “I would just like to say that, given I was the one who failed to tell Clarke about Murphy’s arm, I am also firmly aboard the Murphy is Our Fault Train, but Bellamy’s right, for once. Going easy on him or just giving up on him because you feel sorry for him is exactly what he doesn’t want or need. If we want to do anything to help him, and I know that look in all of your eyes, none of you can resist a stray, he’s going to fight against it every step of the way and he’s going to hate us for most of it.”

Hainofi Clarke stands. “I will take suggestions on how to go about that after Raven has been punished.”

“Floating finally,” Raven says with a complete lack of enthusiasm.

 

Indra is pleased with Mofi.

She might not be smiling, but he can tell.

She waits until they’re alone in her tent before pulling him into a brief hug. He grins at her slightly shyly.

“So, how’d I do?” Mofi asks.

“You did perfectly, my kikabug,” Indra tells him. “I’m proud of you.”

Knowing exactly how sparing with praise she can be, Mofi scuffs his foot on the rug and can feel his face and neck heating up. He feels great, so naturally he needs to do everything he can to ruin that. “You know – Clarke didn’t make the offer when she was working on my arm, must’ve known I’d laugh in her face. One of the other Delinquents – Atom, he, uh, picked a fight with me and – I wasn’t at the meeting ‘cause of that. Turns out it was just an excuse to get me out of our camp so they could ask me to take the bug, but – I didn’t know that when I went. Just wanted a fight and to get out of a boring meeting.”

Indra pulls him into another, slightly longer hug and ruffles his hair as she lets go. “And I’m proud of you for admitting that. You never back down from a fight,” she says fondly. “I can’t expect you to change you kikabug nature, hm? You’ve more than made up for it with that geimbreika.

“Maun-de - my people, _our_ people, we suffer the worst when the Maunon go hunting and after the escape, they’re going to need to replace those people and quickly. Striking against Maun-de is suicide, but if I wait they're going to strike first and our people will be destroyed.

“But if what Hainofi Clarke has told us is true and no more than three of her people could have been responsible for the spell that dug the hole through which our people were freed - then we may have a chance. Skaikru magic is what will bring down Maun-de.”

Murphy processes this new information. “Sorry, I don’t have any magic.”

Indra laughs and shoves his shoulder lightly. “Branwoda. Let Skaikru fight magic with magic and you, you fight with anything you have. I have no magic and I will stand against Maun-de and try to tear it down with my fists if I must. You are the same, a kika. And when Maun-de’s magic is used up, you and I will be the ones who still stand and without their magic the Maunon are men. We can kill men.”

It sounds … kinda dangerous.

Like even if Clarke’s bitches can get them into Mount Weather with the application of explosives - sure the Maunon are men - men with guns. Lots of men with guns.

More men with guns than Murphy is entirely comfortable with.

“I’ve – never killed anyone,” Murphy says and feels slightly confused about saying it as an apology instead of a defence.

“Do not worry,” Indra says with her hand on his arm to guide him with her out of the tent. “Though you are older than most, every gona here was nervous before their first battle. And what a battle yours'll be! First blooded in an assault on Maun-de! Every blooded gona younger than you is sick with jealousy that they've already been in battle and won’t get to say the same. Have the rest of the day to yourself, at nightfall we'll celebrate your alliance that makes this fight winnable.”

“My alliance,” Murphy says. “Ai hukop kom Skaikru.” He nods in appreciation. “Badas, sha?”

“Badas kikabug,” Indra agrees, she gives him one last pat on the shoulder and goes to join her gonas.

Murphy suddenly realizes that he’s never bothered to learn any of their names.

That he doesn’t particularly want anything to do with a battle.

That he’s got nowhere to run to.

Shit.

He goes looking for Atom.

 

“Bring him closer,” Dante orders Emerson and the guard pulls Jasper partially up by his hair and one arm, not high enough to let him find his feet and drags him, scraping his legs against the carpet.

He’s dropped at Dante’s feet and catches himself on his bound hands, pushing himself back up to continue glaring defiance.

“Monty,” Dante says pleasantly, “your friend has been very naughty.” It’s phrased like a neutral statement. It’s a question.

“He’s not my friend,” Monty says instantly. True, he’s his brother. “You think I’ve had a huge amount of choice in who I hang out with?” True, he’d much rather get to know Maya and Octavia than Dante and Cage.

He just hopes Jasper understands.

“You treacherous bastard!” Jasper spits.

Monty’s heart sinks.

“This is exactly the fucking same as when I stole and when they didn’t know which of us had done it, you told them!” Jasper continues in a snarl and Monty knows he understands.

It had been Monty’s theft and Jasper had stayed silent.

“Yeah,” Monty says, sneering down at him, “and I’d do it again to protect myself.”

Jasper’s eyes widen in horror as he realizes Monty is asking if he wants him to return the favor and share the blame. “Octavia is well off away from a psycho like you! At least you can’t hurt her any more! I’m the one she came crying to when you hit her!”

Monty is not going to hit Jasper, even if he asks him to, but at least he knows the Octavia part of the plan went perfectly. “Oh, I heard about you and Maya, you don’t get to play the good guy with that.”

“Maya’s fine, bitch didn’t know her place.”

Hopefully, right now, Octavia is on her way out from said Maya’s place disguised as said Maya. They just need to stall until … until they can’t. There’s no way of knowing Octavia’s out, even Maya won’t know for sure. They might not even know if she’s been recaptured. All they can do is wait and hope no news is good news.

Right now, all he and Jasper can do to help is drag this little performance out as long as they can.

Monty hates it when his plans work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sticking this translation down at the end for reasons of spoilers:  
> Ai laik Trikru, nou Skaikru. Ai badannes ste kamp raun Trikru. Skaikru drag yumi klin. Ai du ai dula. - I am Trikru, not Skaikru. My allegiance is to Trikru. Skaikru disrespects us. I do my duty.
> 
> Yes. Murphy just tried to kill the entire Hundred because Raven made the mistake of using Bellamy against him.  
> No. He's not going to cope well with having done that.
> 
> I'm slightly amused that even after having a chapter named after him, Miller's progression to main cast is even more subtle than Atom's. Harper's has already happened at this point and I'm still forgetting about her.
> 
> Player: Atom  
> Purpose Unlocked: Lurk in the background snorting at Main Characters being oblivious.
> 
> Player: Jasper  
> Achievement Unlocked: It Won't Survive Me
> 
> Player: Octavia  
> Achievement Unlocked: Escape Artist
> 
> Player: Raven  
> Achievement Unlocked: Become Clarke's Bitch
> 
> ... Would you believe me if I told you Bellamy was currently making sure Murphy has warm socks in the sequel? Or that Atom/Jasper is a thing? Because I wouldn't and I _write this stuff_.


	7. Aiopa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aiopa - Watcher.
> 
> So I've been having trouble with my internet and I'm about to go away somewhere there might be no internet at all for a week, so I'm posting a chapter today and another tomorrow for reasons of - uh, I want to. At some point I'm going to have to make an effort to close that fifteen chapter gap between posting and writing, but right now my writing is too quick and consistent ... I say as though that's a bad thing.
> 
> Now, where was I? Ah, yes, Murphy had just failed his way into a Skaikru/Trikru alliance and Monty and Jasper are pretending they hate each other.
> 
> Those two things are sure to last a very long time.

“We’re almost ready to come down,” Abby tells Clarke over the radio. “The Exodus ships aren’t the best thrusters, but they’re better than the nothing we’d have otherwise. It’s still going to be more of a controlled crash. We’re - we’re just waiting for the window that means we can land on the same continent as you. Clarke, not everyone is going to make it, but it’ll save more than seven hundred.”

Clarke realizes her mother isn’t saying she’ll see her soon, she’s saying goodbye. “It’ll go great,” Clarke tells her, “and you know how I know that? Because it’s your plan. Because I trust you and I know you can pull this off. You’re a damn miracle worker.”

“Must have been to bring up a _princess_ ,” Abby replies, lightly teasing.

“I’m not -” Clarke starts then realizes she doesn’t know if that’s quite true. “Just looking after people. You taught me to do that … you and dad.”

“Clarke,” Abby says, ready to launch into yet another apology, but Clarke cuts her off.

“No, you both did. And – and what you did to protect him from himself, it went wrong, and I’m sad about that, I’m not going to stop being sad about that for a long time, probably never, but, but it wasn’t what you wanted to happen. Our intentions matter. They must or there’s nothing special about – about sentience. Raven – kind of screwed something similar up, not half as badly and definitely not for someone either of us love, but – I get it now. So I can forgive you. I hope you can forgive yourself too, someday. I – I love you.”

She can hear the tears in Abby’s voice as she says, “Should have sent you to Earth years ago, huh? You’ve grown up, Clarke. That’s why I’m scared of this, because I know now you can – you can do this without me. I half wish you couldn’t. I’m so proud of you, you know that?”

“I know,” Clarke replies softly, feeling tears of her own form. “I’m going to wait to tell you the same until you’ve got here and saved all those people, ‘kay?”

“I love you, Clarke,” Abby says. “I’ll see you soon.”

 

“Emerson,” Dante says suddenly, interrupting the argument Jasper and Monty are seriously running out of ideas for. “Did you check the Outsider for weapons?”

Jasper and Monty share a confused look.

Luckily, Emerson seems just as uncertain. “Yes, sir, of course I did. He didn’t have anything.”

“Three people are dead because of him,” Dante points out. “Check again, Cage. Properly.”

Jasper hadn’t known that. Hadn’t wanted to know that.

He assumes one of them was the man he pulled the tube out of, but he doesn’t remember how the others had died. He thinks he likes it better that way.

He’s still covered in the man’s blood.

No. Not the man’s blood.

The blood of whichever poor Grounder he’d stolen it from.

It’s not a mark of shame. It’s one of mercy.

Of justice.

The other two, whoever they were, were guilty of the same crime.

Jasper kicks, scratches and bites until he realises how hard he’s making it for Monty to resist helping. Then he allows himself to be held mostly still as Cage cuts away his clothes leaving him in nothing but the blood that’s soaked though. Cage wasn’t careful with the knife and there’s a few new cuts adding to it. Good.

It feels like more than enough to protect his dignity.

It’s evidence of their crimes.

Not his.

 

Clarke leaves the radio tent and gestures for the next person waiting to talk to their family to go in. She wanders towards the sounds of an argument in the direction of the boundary fence.

At the gate she finds Indra.

And one of Miller’s guards.

Myles?

Something like that.

Indra is holding the tip of her sword at Myles’ throat.

Myles has his hands up and is talking very fast. “I promise I’m not denying you entry, ma’am. Sir! I’m just asking you to wait here while I tell Clarke you’re here. You can come right in and look for whatever you want, I just have to tell – Clarke!” He spots her and a look of complete relief and pleading comes over his face.

Clarke takes one look at Indra’s face and realises this has to be about Murphy.

Because only he can inspire that specific mix of anger towards and worry about him.

Indra sheaths her sword and pushes past Myles, striding towards Clarke. “Where’s my seken?” Indra demands.

“Murphy’s missing?” Clarke clarifies. “I haven’t seen him since last night’s meeting. He’s – he knows he’s not welcome in this camp any longer.”

“Where else would he go?” Indra asks and it’s a good point. “I swear if you’ve taken him by force I’ll destroy you.”

Clarke blinks a few times. “For Murphy? It’s been like a week. It usually takes him five minutes to break any good first impression he might have accidentally given you.”

Indra seems to understand she’s not lying, because she gives a faint smile. “Kikabug is a fighter. He jus’ hasn’t found a good fight. So he looks everywhere – hashta looking everywhere, I’ll look here for him.”

“Uh, can I ask one thing? It matters because it’ll affect where he might have gone. Were you, uh, was he in trouble when you last saw him?” Clarke can feel the back of her neck heating in embarrassment, she’s suddenly feeling like a child who’s been playing a silly game and now her parents are nearly home and there isn’t time to clean up the mess.

Only this mess includes several deaths, a few attempted murders, enough injuries she’s stopped keeping track, an entire civilisation that shouldn’t exist and an impending war.

Indra frowns. “No, the opposite. He did – good, though I think you don’t agree.”

Clarke has to sigh. “Then I have no idea why he’d have run. I promise I gave no order for his capture, though there may be those of my people who would take the opportunity.” She carefully doesn’t think of Bellamy, because he’s trying not to be that person, but also she has to admit he’s the prime suspect. “We should find Miller and Wells and organise the scouts and guards into search parties to check the woods. Just in case he isn’t found in either camp – there’s no chance Anya or Kali would have taken him?”

Considering that for a moment as they walk, Indra shakes her head in conclusion. “They both respect the Heda’s rulings in that regard. After – it’s not a happy story, but Heda Lexa lost her seken to politics within the Coalition. After that rules were made to protect the student from the teacher’s enemies. Lexa has not taken a seken since – nor a lover.”

“Her seken was her lover?” Clarke asks, startled. “That’s, like, allowed?”

“It’s rare,” Indra tells her. “Disapproved of, but not forbidden. Usually, the age difference is too great, though there was a Sangedakru couple I heard of. Commander’s – Commander’s come to power young, Costia was – two years less? With the guidance of the Spirits of the Commanders they become wise – as Murphy is not.”

Clarke has to laugh at that. “We’ll probably find him hungover in a ditch.”

That’s when they turn the corner and find Bellamy standing over the body holding a bloody knife.

 

“Monty, please bring me the sword,” Dante says.

He hesitates, not missing the way Cage backs away and drops into an armchair, folded in on himself.

“You can’t kill me,” Jasper hisses, cold and threatening. “You need me alive to save your people’s lives. You’ve lost all the other Grounders. I’m too valuable.”

It’s enough to start Monty across the room. He’s sure it’s never taken this long to cross before.

“I have no intention of spilling another drop of your precious blood,” Dante tells him, apparently unaware he sounds like Christopher Lee in basically anything.

They don’t seem to have Hammer Horror here.

And yet.

“Me either,” Monty says. He’s never actually been allowed more than a fleeting touch of the sword before. He’s never wanted anything more. “I’ve got the same blood.” He picks up the sword, the hilt feeling like it’s burning a mark across his palm.

Dante laughs. “Oh, my dear Monty. I would never punish someone for another’s crimes. Would I, Cage?”

“No, Father,” Cage answers instantly and dully.

Monty makes the epic journey across the room and holds the sword with the blade flat across his hands to offer it to Dante.

Dante doesn’t take it. “No, Monty,” he says in the voice he uses when he thinks Monty is too slow to grasp a lesson. It’s patronising. “A leader has to act when his subjects disobey. You are to punish him.”

Monty looks at Jasper and then the sword in his hands.

He needs to figure out another option.

He knows the what.

Jasper has always been better at the how.

 

Indra has Bellamy backed against the side of a tent, sword blade horizontal to his neck, before Clarke processes that it’s not Murphy’s body.

That shouldn’t feel like a relief.

It’s still the body of one of her people.

One that hasn’t caused a fraction of the trouble Murphy has since if he had Clarke would _know his name_.

“Indra,” Hainofi says. “It’s not your seken. It’s one of _mine_.”

There’s a pause then Indra lowers her sword and Bellamy gasps in relief.

“May I borrow that?” Hainofi asks.

Indra locks eyes with her in understanding as she hands Clarke the sword.

“He just attacked-” is as far as Bellamy before the sword is back at his throat. Clarke holds it horizontally too. Earlier with Myles, Indra had held it straight in order to intimidate.

Clarke doesn’t just want to intimidate.

She sees him understand the threat.

“Now you may tell your side, Bellamy,” Hainofi orders.

He’s searching her eyes and face, looking for any sign she’s bluffing.

She’s not.

Bellamy had been the one to tell her not to make threats she can’t deliver on.

His throat bobs as he swallows and his skin splits. “Clar- Hainofi. Dax came at me with a knife, said his family was in danger. He apologized. He didn’t want to kill me. I didn’t want to kill him. I couldn’t stop. I can’t stop myself. _Please_.”

“Two hundred and twenty three,” Hainofi tells him. “You will start tomorrow.” She whips the sword away making him flinch. There’s a little of his blood on the blade and she wipes it clean on the front of his shirt. “Clean up your mess. You know where Wells has been burying our people. I have bigger concerns.” Clarke hands Indra’s sword back to her with a nod of thanks, maybe she should start carrying a knife at least.

“Bigger – bigger concerns?” Bellamy calls after them. “He’s dead!”

“Murphy is missing,” Clarke says without turning. “I may still be able to save him.”

 

Octavia hates walking.

She also hates stopping.

Being alone is the worst, but people are dangerous. The caves are too confining and the woods are too open.

She abandoned the radiation suit a while back because it was too hot and now she’s too cold.

Something rustles and Octavia spins raising her broken cage bar.

It’s a rabbit.

She hasn’t seen one since she learned their real name.

It looks soft. It’s cute.

Octavia throws the broken bar like a spear. It misses and the rabbit bolts into the undergrowth.

She stomps after to reclaim her weapon, grumbling curses at everything available.

Even taking as much food as she could carry and prioritising things that wouldn’t go off quickly, she’s nearly out. Just a couple of withered apples and a bundle of spaghetti she can’t afford the fire to cook. The very short Earth Skills course she attended on the Ark had left her with the information she needs to make a fire and a fear of the teacher, but little else.

She’d missed the bit of school where they taught you what plants you can and can’t eat.

She’d missed all the bits of school for that matter.

But rabbits, she knows you can eat those.

The trouble is getting one to stay still long enough to let you.

 

Jasper can see a solution.

He’s not thrilled about it and he’s certain Monty will be even less so.

Now he just has to figure out how to communicate it to Monty.

“Are you floating insane?!” Jasper asks Dante. “You think giving him a sword isn’t going to end with me dead? I’m not anyone’s subject. Doesn’t matter what you do to me, I won’t be beaten.”

Okay, hopefully Monty understood.

In no way does he want to be hit with a solid chunk of metal, especially not one with sharp bits, but it’s better than Monty refusing and them both ending up in a cage.

Monty raises the sword and Jasper braces himself.

He closes his eyes so he doesn’t have to see that it’s Monty.

There’s a strange noise.

Jasper doesn’t recognise it and there’s no pain so he opens his eyes.

Monty is holding the sword.

The sword is being held by Dante Wallace’s ribcage.

Right through the heart.

That was _not_ what Jasper said.

 

Murphy rolls over with a groan when someone shoves their way noisily into the tent.

“Flo’ ‘f,” he instructs them, eloquently, without opening his eyes.

“Atom?” Miller asks. “I know you aren’t, but Clarke says everyone - What the hell?!”

Murphy opens his eyes. “It’s called sex,” he tells Miller patronisingly. “See when two people can tolerate each other and find each other passably attractive – hey!”

He scrabbles to pull the blanket with him as Miller hauls him up by him arm, while Atom tries to do the same thing in the opposite direction. Murphy loses, probably because Atom isn’t being manhandled by an irate idiot.

“This is what we’re all panicking about?” Miller asks, shoving Murphy towards the exit. “You’ve managed to send both camps into emergency mode, because you didn’t bother to tell anyone you were screwing your ex?!”

“He’s not my ex!” Murphy and Atom protest at the same time, for very different reasons.

“Whoa, Miller. Can – can I at least get dressed?” Murphy digs his heels in even more, an impressive feat.

Miller pauses, then shoves him back towards Atom. “Fine, no one else wants to see that either, but I really don’t think you quite understand the definition of emergency mode, so underwear will do.”

Murphy doesn’t bother to check if it’s his or Atom’s he’s found first, just yanks the boxers on. He brushes away Miller’s hand when he tries to grab his shoulder, kind of angry, it’s not like he’d actually done anything wrong.

For once.

Okay, maybe he can kind of see where they might have got the idea him vanishing without a word to anyone might be a bad sign.

Especially right after he’d made such a public and open move against Skaikru, even if it had overall resulted in good things for them.

Especially with Bellamy on the loose and apparently still after his blood.

Miller takes his shoulder once they’re outside and marches him across the camp. The mud squishes between his toes and it’s drizzling a little and there’s an audience of angry looking people who presumably have also been dragged from their nice warm beds in the service of this wild floating goose chase and are blaming him for it.

Eh.

Not the hardest crowd he’s had to play to.

 

Octavia checks the compass again, looks in the direction, checks the compass and then glares at the solid twenty odd foot tall wall blocking her path. The only information she has to find the dropship again is to use the opposite bearings Clarke had used when they’d tried to reach Mount Weather their first day on the ground.

It makes her feel a little sick to think what could have happened if they’d succeeded.

She kicks the foot of the wall in frustration.

Nothing happens, it’s stood for ninety seven years, it’s not going anywhere.

Octavia takes a step back from the problem.

The problem remains a wall.

Okay, she can do this.

She can solve a problem on her own.

Sure.

Easy.

People do it all the time.

People who didn’t spend most of their lives under the floating floor being told what to do all the time by their stupid bossy family.

Octavia sits down and seriously considers bursting into tears.

That’s nearly always worked in the past.

Only, there isn’t anyone around to care.

So, really, that’s a waste of time and water.

She doesn’t cry.

Because that’s what the Girl Under the Floor would do and Octavia isn’t the Girl Under the Floor any more.

She’s the girl who escaped Mount Weather. She’s the girl who escaped Podakru. She’s the girl who escaped the Maun-de Fog.

A little wall isn’t standing in the way of her escaping again.

Octavia doesn’t know what Monty or Jasper would say, they always had lots of words and then at the end of all the words they’d tell her what she needed to do and she’d do it.

She needs to get past the wall.

So, she just needs to think how.

Through isn’t an option, she doesn’t think even Jasper could make explosives out of bark. Round would take her too far out of the way to reliably find the dropship, but if there’s no other option she’ll do it. Under she considers for longer, but she’s got nothing to dig with and it could keep going underground.

Over it is.

Octavia tries to climb it, but it’s smooth concrete and any parts that have crumbled enough to give her a hold crumble away under her the moment she puts any weight on them.

So she climbs a tree.

It grows close enough to the wall that it’s a maybe three foot jump between the branch and the top. Taking the jump is as easy as playing on the Ark. Table to chair, take moment to find balance or it’ll tip, two legs on the diagonal shorter than the other two.

Octavia opens her eyes and she’s balanced on top of the world.

The crumbling concrete isn’t quite as wide as her feet, so she stands one in front of the other, arms outstretched. It’s like she can see forever. On the other side of the wall are more trees. Wondering if she could get to the top of one of those and what the view from there would be like, Octavia skips a little way down the wall, wobbling only a little.

Now she’s just got to find a way down the other side.

The concrete crumbles under her foot and she slips, luckily falling on the side she wants to be on. What handholds she grabs at to slow her down dissolve as easily as they had on the other side, scraping her fingers bloody.

It works though, slowing her enough that her last drop into a scratchy bush doesn’t do much more than graze her.

Octavia grins as she climbs out of the bush, brushing dirt off her ass.

She pulls out the compass and checks her direction.

This problem solving thing is easy.

 

Emerson fumbles for his gun in what seems like slow motion, but Jasper gets there first, flicking off the safety and firing without drawing it. The bullet tears through Emerson’s holster and leg.

Idiot shouldn’t have put it away.

Jasper pulls the gun free as Emerson falls and twists up to one knee, raising it to point at Cage Wallace.

Cage doesn’t react.

Neither does Monty when Jasper looks over his shoulder.

Keeping the gun trained on Cage and an eye on Emerson, Jasper stands, backing up until he’s close enough to Monty to put his free hand on his arm. “Monty, hey, I’m here. Come on, we need to go. Yeah?”

Monty blinks at Jasper, then seems to wake up. He pulls the sword out in a single movement, clinging to it as blood drips over his hand. “Go where?” Monty asks, “We didn’t leave ourselves an escape route. That wasn’t the plan.”

“Maya?” Jasper suggests, then, “No. We’ve asked too much of her already. Harvest Chamber? Again, no, can’t get past the cordon.”

“Front door?” Monty says bitterly. “Because we haven’t killed enough?”

Jasper takes a shuddering breath. “I don’t have an answer. Not this time. I’m sorry.”

“The dam,” Cage says.

“Damn you too,” Jasper spits back.

“No, the hydroelectric dam.” Cage sounds like he’s speaking for far away. “My experiments require access to the outside. My keycard is in my breast pocket. Take it and go. Walk away now – and I’ll let you. Come back and I can’t.”

“I just killed your Father,” Monty states.

Cage doesn’t say anything to that.

Monty frowns, then asks quietly, “Cage, what happened to your mother?”

“What happened to yours?”

“Nothing. She’s alive and well.” Monty is wasting time so Jasper fetches the keycard himself, pushing the butt of the gun against Cage’s forehead so he sways away for a second.

“You can’t know that,” Cage says. “So go find her. I’m sorry.”

It’s enough to keep Jasper from pulling the trigger, but only just.

 

Murphy isn’t sure why he’s surprised to find both Indra and Clarke in the middle of organising the search.

Them looking absolutely furious at him is much less of a surprise.

With Miller’s hand on his shoulder and the public setting, it’s somehow much scarier than it had been in the meeting tent the evening before. “Mornin’,” Murphy says as cockily as he can manage.

Indra strides towards him and he cringes away from an anticipated blow. Instead she wraps him in a full hug, squeezing tightly enough he can feel her armour leaving imprints on his skin. Murphy makes a little squeaking noise, freezing up, this isn’t a situation he knows how to deal with.

After a moment she pulls away and shakes him by the shoulders, he knows how to respond to that. “Moba, seda,” Murphy recites.

And then she goes and hugs him again.

Murphy looks at Clarke, panicked enough to try silently pleading with her to save him.

Instead Clarke looks like she’s about to laugh. He sticks his tongue out at her for lack of arm movement enough to flip her off. That actually does make Clarke laugh, shaking her head.

He should have gone with an eye roll.

But that might have given Clarke the impression the insult was directed at Indra.

Murphy shivers a little when Indra pulls away again.

It’s cold and he’s not nearly dressed enough.

“Thanks, Setneshona Miller,” Indra says.

Miller has been quietly discouraging an audience by sending people away to spread the news that Murphy’s been located and to locate other council members. “I’d say no problem, but if there’s anything Murphy’s good at it’s being a problem,” Miller jokes.

Murphy scowls at him, but has some self-preservation left so says nothing.

Apparently, Clarke’s council has relocated its meeting room to the storage tent Atom had taken him to. Must be far away from the populated areas that they can do whatever they want without raising weird questions.

It’s not a comforting thought.

Sitting cross legged on a storage box dragged into the middle of the tent while trying not to listen to the conversation they’re all having about him is not Murphy’s idea of a good time.

Especially since he hadn’t actually done anything wrong.

For at least the last twelve hours.

Mainly because he’d been asleep.

He picks at the mud drying on his feet, knowing he’s making a mess and having serious trouble feeling anything about that but that it serves them right.

“They’re worried about you,” says Harper, dropping from somewhere near the roof of the tent with warning, because she’s obviously been spending way too much time with Finn. She’s a damn sneaky aiopa is what she is.

“What can I say, I’m a worrying guy,” Murphy retorts.

Harper rolls her eyes. “Let me rephrase, they’re worried for you. Bellamy might be a bit more, uh, violent about it, but you’re self-destructing just as hard.”

“And that’s none of their business.” Murphy glares at her. “None of them. Where is Bellamy anyway?”

She doesn’t bother to address the first half of his comment. “He’s made it quite clear he’s incapable of being part of this, whatever this turns into, he’s not council, no matter how much he tries to act like he is and he’s busy cleaning up his latest kill.”

Murphy stares. “Please, please tell me that was a joke.”

Harper shakes her head. “So, you’re not the only reason everyone’s on edge. We’ve just already got an idea for getting him under control. You’re still a wildcard.”

“I like being a wildcard,” he tells her with a little tilt of his head and she grins at him, before slipping away to join the conversation.

Harper is easily winning the not particularly well contested trophy for Murphy’s favorite of Clarke’s council. It’s nice sometimes to look and see someone looking back who doesn’t seem to hate what she sees. He’s got no clue what he’s done that she wouldn’t hate though.

She’s a good person.

An eternity and seconds later Finn quietly detaches himself from the group and comes over. He doesn't say anything.

“Okay, did Clarke cut out your tongue?” Murphy asks him. “I remember when you never shut up, even if everything you said was bullshit.”

Finn half smiles. “People keep saying I’m saying less now I’ve got to think about what I say. It’s not true. I’m saying more. I’ve just cut out a lot of that bullshit.” He glances back at Raven and Clarke. “It’s okay to let them look after you. You’ve been doing a genuinely shitty job of it yourself. I’d say don’t let it get to the point I did, but you’re miles past that. Just ... give them a chance.”

Murphy considers him. “Finn. Last time you talked me into anything four people died, I got exiled to the Kyongedon, you were publicly beaten and the only reason I wasn’t as well is because Clarke felt guilty about not knowing everything in the entire world already. So, yeah, not feeling thrilled about your track record.”

“The Yon – Kyon – the Grounders?”

“Kyongedon. It’s what the Grounders call themselves,” Murphy says, icy cold for once. “They don’t like being called Grounders much. After all, they respected you enough to let you call yourself Delinquents. Course when you didn’t give them the same respect - you’re Skaikru now.” He smirks. “You traveled with them, you’ve known they existed longer and you haven’t even bothered to ask them what they call themselves.”

Finn naturally does not respond well to being called out by Murphy of all people. “I’ve never heard them use that word and I bet I know a damn sight more of their language than you. After all, you’re barely capable of writing English!”

Murphy leans towards him. “See, if you actually gave a jok hashta emon sleng, you’d know they use the same damn alphabet only with rules that actually make a floating bit of sense. It’s way easier.”

“Boys,” Raven says warningly, glaring at the pair of them who jump apart. “Finn, stop letting him bait you. He’s scared and you’re really not helping.”

Finn pouts a little, kisses her on the cheek, then disappears up a pile of supplies to join Harper perched at the top. Murphy hadn’t even noticed her get up there and despite watching Finn the entire time can’t quite figure out how he didn’t knock everything over. He’s impressed despite himself.

“So, Raven, since you’re the resident expert.” Murphy hasn’t missed her slight limp. “What exactly am I supposed to be afraid of?”

There’s only a slight hesitation before Raven lays the collar she’d told Bellamy to force on him the day before on the box in front of him.

“Oh, fuck no.”

“I’m sorry,” Raven tells him, meeting his eyes squarely, “for the way I offered this to you. But I’m not sorry for offering. Float me if I know why, but Clarke’s decided to save you. And you should know exactly how much of a bad idea it is to stand in Clarke’s way, you do it often enough. But she won’t force you to choose. No time limit. I mean, it’s not like you can sit here forever, but - you’ve already said yes to Indra, so her claim still stands and will still be there even if you take our offer. This isn’t either or, it’s and. You’ve got every reason not to trust this. I know it’s hard for you to say yes, so all we need is this one, then we can take over from there. So, I’m just going to leave that there and you do whatever you want with it.”

Murphy narrows his eyes at her. Just because she’s genuine doesn’t mean he can trust her. “That’s Bellamy’s collar,” he says, not specifying which way he means it.

“No. Bellamy’s not council,” Raven tells him. “He holds no authority in this place or any other. Besides I couldn’t get it to fit him properly. Needed more of a taper. So - don’t think you’re special or anything, we just happen to have a spare collar and had a vote on who we’d most like to see it on.”

He grins at her. “Well, I’m glad you all know I’d look good in it.” He makes no move to pick it up though.

Murphy can’t.

Not with her watching.

Raven grins back. “No, pretty sure it was the potential of adding a leash so you can’t run off again.” She turns to go join the others before Murphy can reply.

“I didn’t run off, Reyes!” he calls after her, mock offended. “Just because none of you are getting laid doesn’t mean the rest of the world has stopped!”

She flips him off over her shoulder without looking back.

None of the rest of the now much quieter debate are looking at him. Glancing up to the pair sitting up by the roof, Murphy catches Harper’s eye. She smiles, gives him a thumbs up, then pointedly twists her body so she’s fully facing Finn.

It’s definitely not privacy, but he can tell it’s as close as he’s going to get for this.

Raven might have said no time limits, but that doesn’t mean he can walk away with Indra and expect it to still be on the tab- well, on the box.

And he wants it.

Doesn’t quite understand the reasons he does, but he’s never lied to himself about what he wants.

Okay, that’s a lie.

He’s never _knowingly_ lied to himself about what he wants.

He’s always just taken it without asking.

He didn’t ask for this either.

But somehow they’d still known.

If he does … take the offer, things are going to suck in the very immediate future. Wells’ promise of clemency for Murphy’s past actions was reliant on one specific bit of obedience and he’d failed at that spectacularly. Even with Bellamy not a deciding factor, this is going to hurt.

Murphy glances at Indra, the one they’re all trying to convince. She has no idea what he wants.

Because he hadn’t told her and let her make her own assumptions.

And those assumptions are going to get him killed.

Or he’ll be forced to betray her.

And he knows exactly how much guilt he already feels just for considering it. For accepting the bug at all. In the time it had taken to get back that guilt had changed his mind about going through with it.

Murphy had killed everyone he’d ever known for that loyalty.

Everyone he’d cared about who wasn’t already dead.

He’d killed Mbege, Atom, Jason, Jacob, Jackson, Harper, Raven. He even feels a little guilty about Finn and Wells. And maybe Miller.

Five out of six isn’t bad odds.

And it’s not like he wants Clarke dead or anything, just … less of a threat.

She’s terrifying.

Murphy has stood between her and her people before and he knows that if she were in Bellamy’s place, Wells wouldn’t be limping.

He’d be dead.

What the hell.

If you can’t beat ‘em.

Join ‘em.

Murphy puts the collar around his neck.

 

Octavia spreads the contents of her bag out on the ground in front of her and tries to decide if there’s anything she can use.

Obviously there is, she only took things they’d decided were useful.

It’s just now that she’s out here she kind of wishes she’d asked what some of them were supposed to be for.

Like obviously Octavia can fill the bottle with water and then she doesn’t need to find it every time she gets thirsty, but what about the ball of string?

It’s nowhere near strong enough to take her weight, so it can’t be for climbing. She can’t think of any obvious situations where she’d need to tie two things together. It can be used in the construction of a fire, but the compass has an attached magnifying glass that can as well and she wouldn’t need this much string for that. Besides they’d all agreed fire would be too much of a risk until she had delivered her message.

There’s lots of things Octavia could make or do with a ball of string, but none of them seem to fit the situation. She has no need for a cat’s cradle or tripwire.

Suddenly angry, she picks the damn ball up and throws it hard at the cave wall opposite. It hits the floor, rolls through a muddy puddle and comes to a sad halt, slightly unraveled.

Octavia still doesn’t know what she’s supposed to do with it.

If she had a hook she could try and catch a fish with it.

She doesn’t have a hook.

Sighing, she goes and picks it up, trying to wipe as much of the damp off it as possible. Octavia trusts Monty and Jasper and even Maya, they wouldn’t have thought it was essential if it wasn’t.

It’s not their fault she’s too stupid to work out how.

 

They don’t meet any resistance between Dante’s office and Cage’s labs.

Mount Weather is still on lockdown so there’s no civilians wandering the halls. Cage must be holding his promise, because whoever is monitoring the CCTV does nothing to alert the guards.

Once they’d stopped running on pure adrenaline, Jasper had ducked into the first room he saw looking for something to wear. He’s not sure if the labcoat he ended up with is lucky or ironic.

Probably both.

They’d swapped weapons, Monty pointing out he’s had training in using a gun. Jasper doesn’t say anything, just hands it over and takes the sword in return. He remembers mock fighting with Monty with rulers as swords until the teacher relocated them to opposite sides of the classroom.

Jasper doesn’t pretend with it, he just tries to clean some of the dried blood off with a corner of the labcoat.

His reflection is the same color.

They find Cage’s labs. They find Cage’s Experiments. Those that are coherent enough to beg for it Jasper puts out of their misery. He kills the ones that aren’t too. Monty stays in the corridor keeping watch.

He thinks maybe he should regret letting Cage live.

But Monty would be dead if he hadn’t.

Those Experiments that have already been released don’t give them any trouble either.

Not after Monty finds a device in one of the rooms, one of the few Jasper lets him in, that makes a shrill sound that terrifies them.

They don’t know where they’re going.

Beyond away.

It’s the from that matters.

The tunnels go on forever, but forever changes.

Jasper and Monty step out into the sunlight, hand in hand, weapons in the other, Jasper soaked in fresher blood again and Monty’s suit pristine once he’d thrown aside the jacket.

They look at each other, not needing to ask to know they’re both wondering what next?

Neither of them know who initiates the kiss.

 

Murphy thinks maybe he should kneel instead of sit, but doesn’t particularly want to.

At least he’s the center of attention.

You’d think he’d like it more given the things he does to get there.

Indra is waiting for an explanation.

He’s not sure he can give her one.

All Murphy’s got is the truth. “Moba, seda, ai bilaik …” No, he can’t do this in Trigedasleng, little as he wants the others to hear it. “I’m a coward. You think I’m this … this great warrior. I’m not a gona. I’m not quite as unconcerned with my own welfare as I may give the impression sometimes. I like a fight, but I’m not willing to risk my life for one. Not one … one I have no stake in.” He glances up, but Indra’s expression has always been hard to read, even for him. “When it comes to it, I don’t give a fuck about Mount Weather. Only people I care about that it puts in danger are the ones about to march to war against it. And I can’t stop them. I can’t stop you. But I won’t march with you.” His mouth twists bitterly in self recrimination. “I’ve decided I'm more valuable than you. I know that makes me a shitty person, but I’ve never pretended to be anything else. Hey, maybe Clarke can cure that and I’ll join your doomed floating crusade. Until then, I’m worthless to you. Waste of you and your people’s resources. Course that’s true if I stay here too. It’s your land they’re occupying.”

Indra slaps him.

Murphy’s head is knocked to the side and he raises a hand briefly to assess the damage. Little bleeding at the corner of his lip, going to have a hell of a bruise, not worth doing anything about. He can easily take more. He moves his head back to the center and waits for it.

“Branwoda,” Indra says softly and that’s not the tone he’d expected at all, the anger after is more predicted, but the words are not. “Worthless?! Your actions have given my people hope. A chance at winning our war or at least going down fighting rather than caged and helpless. Did you truly think we are cruel enough to force one who does not want to fight?”

This war might be the first fight Murphy’s ever backed down from without the intention of trying again later, but he’s not allowing her this one without striking a single blow. “That wasn’t what I was trying to do,” he tells her, meeting her eyes defiantly much more easily now. “I wanted Skaikru dead. Because one of them accidentally humiliated me. There’s nothing I’ve learned from you that wasn’t to serve myself. Not a single moment when I was working for anything other than my own self-interest. You should find a seken who’s actually loyal! To something other than himself. Because I don’t even know how to be!”

Once again Indra’s scrutiny goes on for long enough to make Murphy uncomfortable, then she nods and says, “And if that were the whole truth you'd never have told me it. Hainofi Clarke is right. I can’t be the teacher you need. I hope one day that changes. Until that day you may not be my seken, but I – I consider you a son. There is a place at my side for you, even if never on the battlefield.” She shakes her head and brushes a hand over the side of his face she slapped and through his hair. He flinches away and for a moment the light catches her eyes in an odd way. “Come back to me, Kikabug, that’s an order.”

“Sha, seda,” Murphy says automatically. He can’t watch as she sweeps out of the tent.

There’s a long silence, then he finally raises his head. “So - who wants to go next?”

Murphy grins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jok hashta emon sleng - fuck about their language.
> 
> Murphy's not fluent in Trigedasleng, not by a long way. He understands it spoken and written, though he still meets new vocabulary, and he's picked up a few individual words, but he's still using English grammar rules and missing auxiliaries out. Finn isn't lying about knowing some, Lincoln started teaching him, he's memorized some basic phrases by heart, anything else is a mystery. The difference between learning by immersion and learning by memorization.
> 
> Player: Bellamy  
> Achievement Unlocked: Become Clarke's Bitch
> 
> Player: Murphy  
> Achievement Unlocked: Become Clarke's Bitch
> 
> Player: Monty  
> Achievement Unlocked: Send Dante to Hell
> 
> Player: Jasper  
> Armor Unlocked: Blood-Stained Labcoat  
> Weapon Unlocked: Dante's Sword
> 
> Next Chapter:
> 
> Bellamy reacts badly to Murphy's general existence.
> 
> Miller admires Bellamy's ass.
> 
> Octavia founds Team Fuck Up Mount Weather (Team Fuck Up for short).
> 
> Bellamy: How'd you find us?  
> Octavia: I just followed the sound of petty bitching.
> 
> Murphy: Guys, help, she followed me home and now she won't _leave_ what do I do?  
>  Bellamy: Well, you don't give her snacks before dinner, you'll ruin her appetite.  
> Murphy: ... I just lost all respect for you, mom.


	8. Tripeka

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tripeka - Woodpecker
> 
> So, some caning for those who are here for the kink and some Developments for those who are here for the plot.
> 
> Murphy and Bellamy take the first step towards domestic bliss ...
> 
> I don't even know if that comment is sarcastic or not, like it is, but it's also true.
> 
> It's just that step is kinda ...
> 
> Caning.
> 
> Yay?

Murphy is wearing his collar.

Okay, it’s not Bellamy’s collar and he didn’t even want the damn thing and it didn’t fit properly and he’s got his own … but he still doesn’t like it.

Another annoyance is caused by how comfortable Murphy acts in it. Rather than treating it as a symbol of penance, he seems to consider it a mark of Clarke’s protection. In the short time Bellamy has been not watching him while sorting damaged and moldy berries out from the edible he’s seen at least four potential fights that Murphy both started and then got the other party to back off by dropping Clarke’s name.

He’s been back less than 24 hours, after sending everyone into a panic because he thought getting laid was more important than taking the time to casually mention to someone he might not be coming back that night, and Clarke hasn’t even punished him.

For anything.

Meanwhile, Bellamy is still getting the occasional mocking laugh or shove or someone deliberately making his tasks harder even with Miller not watching from over by the firepit.

It’s not fair.

Why does Murphy get treated better? Sure, Bellamy had asked for this and he doesn’t regret that, exactly. He just can’t do it with Murphy swanning around taking advantage of Clarke’s kindness.

The only bright spot Bellamy could see to this was that Murphy might finally get what he deserved, but apparently no one cares what he thinks.

He drops the next bucket to sort onto the table rather more forcibly than necessary and the noise make Murphy look round.

Instantly he looks like a predator that’s just seen the perfect prey.

Bellamy isn’t interested in being anyone’s prey.

But he’s not screwing up his first tally.

Not even for Murphy.

 

They find the Experiment four days out.

He’s dying.

Jasper thinks it might be kinder to make it quick, but Monty kneels at his side, fumbling with the noise maker. Jasper doesn’t understand, all that’s going to do is make it more painful.

Monty doesn’t turn it on, instead taking it apart, handing pieces to Jasper who tries to balance them on one hand until he’s forced to let go of the sword. He’s not sure he’s let it go since Monty gave it to him.

“What are you ...?” Jasper asks, but Monty shakes his head and answers by jabbing two electrodes into the Experiment’s chest.

It certainly does something, but Jasper wouldn’t be confident defining it as good or bad, just different.

Monty checks the Experiment’s pulse, then drops back on his knees.

“Is he ...?” Jasper can’t say okay, that’s obviously not true.

“He’s alive,” Monty tells him. “We have to save him.”

Jasper doesn’t ask why. He knows they have to try.

Even if it fails.

Even if he tries to kill them when he wakes up.

Even if he succeeds.

 

“You know I’m not really magic, right?” Raven asks Clarke. “I can’t turn this dropship into a missile.”

“I’m not asking you to.” Clarke glares at the Grounder maps of Mount Weather, they’re nowhere close to useful, barely better than the nothing she had before. “I’m asking you to make the Grounders think that’s what we’re doing until the Ark arrives and they can take over. With actual resources. And guns. And – and – floating adults! We’re just stupid kids playing in the woods that someone has mistaken for competent – in no little part because of the things I’ve told them and let them believe!”

“Okay, gonna admit I’m not the best placed to disagree with that,” Raven says. “I’m not even a full year older than you, but I know I’m twice as competent as any of the other mechanics on the Ark and I know that because I had a neat little test and Sinclair to tell me so, but I didn’t believe it until I did it. What if you are the best suited for this? Because the Grounders already know you, because you know Jasper, Monty and Octavia, because you’d do whatever it takes to get them back, because you’ve got the youngest zero-G mechanic in fifty two years firmly on your team!

“The Ark never helped me. Only people up there I care about are Abby and Sinclair. The rest can float. And that’s why you’ve got my loyalty, completely, you care about every single one. Even the men who killed your father. You want to save everyone, not just your own.

“And maybe you can’t, but that’s not going to stop you trying.” Raven smiles a little sheepishly. “Even if that means saving them from themselves. It sounds so silly and small compared to the Ark or Mount Weather, but you – you fixed my relationship with Finn. Not that you can call it a relationship in that way, we’re not back together. But I’m not sad enough about that to change it.

“It would have been easy and understandable for you to hate or resent me instead. I took something you wanted, even if I had the prior claim. But instead you saw that the thing you wanted was broken and you – you could have broken it more, exploited the weakness to have it – him yourself, but you didn’t. You handed me the tools and instructions I needed to fix it and maybe the thing doesn’t quite work as it used to, but it works.

“So, thank you, Clarke, and get your ass back into gear on fixing this.”

Clarke grins at her. “Great pep talk, Raven, even with the sass.”

“Oh, you’d miss my sass,” Raven says, starting to pry one of the dropship wall panels away.

Before Clarke can respond, they hear the sound of a gathering audience outside.

“Just like clockwork,” Raven says, “Go deal with that first. But for the record, I still think baiting them both like that isn’t far off what I did and if this blows up in your face, I demand the right to give you exactly what I got for it.”

“If this makes it worse,” Clarke pauses at the dropship door, looking back at Raven. “I’ll let you.”

 

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Miller hisses at Wells. “I’m pretty sure in legal terms this counts as entrapment.”

“I don’t think that counts if literally all you need to do is not restrain them on opposite sides of camp,” Wells points out, not unreasonably. “At that point it’s deciding not to prolong the inevitable.”

“Sometimes I forget your dad is a politician and then you say shit like that.” Miller shakes his head. “But like, isn’t there an option where we reintroduce them gently, small exposure over time?”

“We don’t have time, the Ark is going to land today and if they can’t at least pretend not to want to kill each other ...” Wells sighs. “If Clarke wants them, I’m not letting anyone take them away from her. Even if I’ve been the third in that relationship before and don’t want to repeat the experience.”

“I’d have thought you’d have way more problems with this,” Miller says. “You’ve got more reasons than any of us.” It’s not a question, except it is.

“They’re not a threat to me any longer. I was always okay with Clarke making the final choice between me and Bellamy. I mean, if she hadn’t picked me, I’m not sure I’d still be okay with it, but she did. And by the time Bellamy came back the place she offered him is so far away from mine … Power struggle equivalent of tied up at opposite ends of the camp, I suppose. And Murphy’s always been more of a … nuisance than an actual threat. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want them around, but I’d much rather have the – the panther where I can see it rather than getting up to who knows what in the bushes. Even if that means I have to watch its surreal territorial dance with another angrier panther.”

Miller snorts at the comparison. “That’s fair enough, but you shouldn’t be here when things kick off. I’m not handing either of them a weapon, under any circumstances.”

Wells claps his shoulder and wishes him good luck before leaving.

Miller returns the bulk of his attention to Murphy and Bellamy, feeling rather like he’s just sitting there while a natural disaster rises behind him.

He checks the proximity of the guards he’s stationed around under various excuses, ready to step in the moment he gives the sign.

Clarke had better know what she’s doing.

 

Murphy feels like he’s about to buzz right out of his skin.

It’s obvious he’s given permission, so what the hell is Clarke waiting for? Unless the waiting is supposed to be part of the punishment.

Well, he refuses to accept that.

If the bastards would just give him some indication of what to expect ...

But the only frame of reference he’s got is the public flogging and a couple of suspicious winces. If Clarke was going to just beat him, she’d have done it already.

Something clunks and he spins, clenching his hands into fists in case it’s another moron here to give him shit about being Clarke’s bitch.

Better her bitch than dead.

There’s no need for them to tell Murphy something he already knows and has accepted.

Then again, there is one person who has some idea what's going to happen to him and isn’t in on the joke.

What a tragedy it has to be floating Bellamy.

 

“What did you do, huh?” Murphy asks hoping onto the table to sit in the exact place Bellamy was planning on putting the pot he was sorting into. “I mean aside from the murder, general attempted violence and the like.”

“Killed two hundred and twenty three people,” Bellamy answers shortly. “Don’t need to tell me what you did. Just because you failed doesn’t absolve you of a hundred lives.”

Murphy takes a berry from the ones Bellamy’s already sorted. He has to lean right past the bucket full of ones that haven’t cost Bellamy any effort yet to do so.

“You could help instead,” Bellamy snaps, only just restraining himself from slapping it out of Murphy’s hand.

“Why?” Murphy eats the damn berry. “Clarke didn’t say anything about taking your orders. Just the council’s.”

“Just the council’s?” That is beyond unfair.

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re everyone’s bitch,” Murphy says with a huge grin. “… Holy shit, you are! How’d she get you to accept that one without telling her to float? Does that mean I get to give you orders?”

Bellamy really doesn’t want to try and explain the tally thing to someone whose only regret is getting caught. “No, you do not get to give me orders, not now, not ever.”

That doesn’t stop Murphy’s annoying questions. “But like, if you’re supposed to follow everyone’s orders, couldn’t I just report you? Or do you take punishment from everybody too? Damn, if I’d known you were gagging to get on your knees this much ...” He winks.

Bellamy grabs Murphy’s cast arm and yanks him off the table.

Float the tally.

He twists Murphy’s injured arm up behind his back, knowing he could be doing serious damage and hoping he is. Jamming one knee into the small of his back, Bellamy leans in to growl in Murphy’s ear. “I’m here because I’m willing to do what it takes to avoid hurting people in the future. I’ve got no floating clue why you’re here, but you don’t get to mess this up for me. Maybe when I’m done, I’ll be the kind of person who wouldn’t hurt you. I haven’t got there yet, so think really really carefully about how much you like having two hands.”

Murphy has gone slightly grey with pain and seems to have trouble forming words, but he nods. He’d agree to anything to get him to stop, but Bellamy knows he’ll be up and swinging back the moment he lets go.

He needs to make the lesson stick.

 

Well, that had gone about average for one of Murphy’s plans.

In retrospect the insinuation Bellamy was enjoying this might have been both unnecessary and untrue.

But how was he supposed to know Bellamy would react like a floating psycho.

... Oh, right, every single interaction he’d had with him ever.

Fuck, someone really does need to teach him how to stop.

How to do the ‘is this likely to end in agonising pain’ thinking before instead of after.

The agonising pain reduces.

The self-recrimination does not.

Murphy becomes vaguely aware that Bellamy must have been physically dragged off him and that Miller and Jackson are crouching in front of him.

Miller.

He understands.

“You can’t,” he says to Miller. “Not this time, you don’t let her. I can’t keep getting away with it. Not when you just feel sorry for me.”

Murphy’s head clears enough for him to seriously regret saying that. He doesn’t try to take it back, he’s got bigger regrets to deal with.

Like how badly he’s screwed up his millionth chance.

 

They make Bellamy wait while Jackson checks Murphy’s arm.

It’s a feeling he recognizes, the council a smaller, but just as terrifying crowd as the one at his whipping. The major difference is that Finn is part of it.

Because he’d had the sense to learn from his mistakes.

Bellamy slumps on the box, trying not to look at the other box waiting for Murphy a few feet to his left.

Hey, at least he’s not alone in being an unrelenting screwup.

It’s not much comfort.

 

It might have gone exactly as predicted, but Clarke is still seriously considering taking Raven up on her offer. She’d missed the bit where the step ‘Bellamy reacts poorly to Murphy’s general existence’ could get someone seriously hurt. If Murphy’s arm is irreparable, she’s never going to be able to forgive herself and she’ll have lost him.

She doesn’t know if she can do this, even if it isn’t.

All that’s keeping Clarke going right now is the defeated slump of Bellamy’s shoulders and the fact that even if she’s lost Murphy, she can’t let Bellamy down too.

It’s an eternity before Miller leads Murphy into the storage tent and gives her the nod that means Murphy’s going to be okay.

Clarke starts breathing again.

 

Harper lies on her stomach on a pile of sacks, trying to watch everything at once.

It’s going exactly as it needs to.

Which isn’t the same thing as according to plan.

Even the arm thing can work in their favor, just as long as Clarke avoids the same mistake she made last time. If necessary, this time Harper can argue the point, but she’d rather Murphy didn’t see her as an enemy.

She’s trying to help him after all.

 

Finn does not want to have to watch this.

In the much more recent past than he’d prefer, he’d been right there between the pair of them.

He’d been lucky.

He’d gone first.

He’d had Raven to pull him back.

Finn isn’t quite egotistical enough to think he’s more than a tiny part of the problem between Bellamy and Murphy, but that’s not the same as not being part of the problem. He owes them the same support the others gave him.

So he’s going to sit right here and hope doing so makes this easier on them.

It’s all he can.

 

Wells can’t help but feel a certain amount of satisfaction at seeing the two greatest pains in his ass in serious trouble without the actual pain in his ass he’d had last time.

It’s not that he wants to see them in pain exactly.

Just that they really deserve it.

He’s not here for them, he’s here for Clarke.

If Wells could do this for her, he would in a heartbeat, but she’s made it very clear that wouldn’t be appreciated.

So he’s going to sit right here and hope doing so makes this easier on her.

It’s all he can.

 

This, all of this, is absolutely and entirely Clarke’s fault.

Miller swears if Clarke messes this up one more time he’s taking over the job.

Before she showed up, Miller was about the only person Murphy showed anything close to respect for.

Of course he’d just sat back and watched while Murphy, Bellamy and Wells tore into each other, but that had been _politics_. Miller doesn’t understand politics.

His dad had been a guard.

He understands justice.

And he’s going to do everything in his power to make sure it’s carried out.

Because Murphy had begged him to.

If at that moment Murphy had begged for mercy, Miller wouldn’t have much cared, he might have felt somewhat guilty, but not enough to give it to him.

Instead he’d looked so vulnerable and it hadn’t been Miller he’d wanted protection from. It’d been Clarke.

Murphy had trusted Miller over Clarke.

And Miller isn’t letting him down.

This is Clarke’s last floating chance.

 

Raven sits further back than she usually would.

Usually she wouldn’t have a problem with sitting either.

Clarke had given her a choice, ass or hands. Humiliation or reduced functionality. It had been an easy choice.

If not easy to actually take.

She very aware that if Clarke ever took her up on her offer there is zero chance of it being public, even just in front of the council.

The punishment hadn’t just been about Murphy, it’d been about Clarke reasserting who exactly was in control here. Raven kind of resents it, but not enough to start that fight. Hell, she’s not even sure Clarke knew that’s what she was doing.

But there’s no chance she’d win that fight.

The council is unquestionably Clarke’s. The only one who’d even be split between them is Finn and Raven has done a pretty shit job at looking after him before Clarke showed up.

Raven’s only way out of this is to walk away.

And Clarke wouldn’t stop her.

But she’d lose the others. Finn of course is the headline issue, but she wouldn’t submit just for him, not any more. But she’s formed friendships with the others too.

Especially Clarke.

So, as long as that’s what Clarke needs from her, Raven is willing to submit, if not always gracefully.

Hence sitting further back.

She’s sulking.

She knows she’ll get over it, but it’s just not her nature. It’s like seeing something that needs fixing, using the wrong size spanner by accident and someone else coming in to take over.

And knowing that person will do a better job than Raven could.

Really not a fan of that feeling.

But it’s Raven’s problem and she’s not going to make it anyone else’s.

Of course if Murphy really wants to make himself a target to take some of that frustration on, Raven’s got no complaints.

It’s kind of half his fault.

The other half is Bellamy’s.

This is exactly what she’d run from Finn’s thrashing to avoid.

But, hey, she doesn’t love either of them, so she can put up with it.

No one seems willing to start this, not even Murphy for once.

Someone has to. Unless they want to sit here staring at each other forever. And Raven is currently not very thrilled about the sitting part of that plan.

“How many minutes did that take?” she asks. “I wanted to set up a betting pool on how long you’d last, but there _wasn’t time to_.”

Murphy grins at Raven, it’s an improvement from sullen. “You should have told me, I’d have rigged it for a cut.”

“Of course you would,” Bellamy mutters.

“Do you have some kind of problem with me, Blake?” Murphy turns on him immediately. “I’d never have guessed.”

Mission complete, now Raven can sit back and let Clarke do her thing.

“I just think you’re the one who came to me-” Bellamy starts, before being cut off by Clarke’s cleared throat.

Raven feels absurdly proud. It’s not like she actually taught Clarke anything, she’s a natural.

… Oh shit, is this how Sinclair feels about her?

Just giving out the words for things she does by instinct.

“Neither of you are in any position to be blaming each other for the fight,” Clarke tells them.

She’s doing that Hainofi thing again. All regal. Like she’s in that position and had nothing whatsoever to do with manipulating the situation to allow it to happen.

_Bitch_ , Raven thinks fondly.

At least she’s a bitch on Raven’s side.

That’s good enough for her.

Bellamy doesn’t have anything to say to that, bowing his head. Raven has never known him without Clarke around or before he killed over two hundred people with her radio and she often has trouble equating this Bellamy with the version she’s been told about. But there’s Wells’ leg and Murphy’s arm and a freshly dug grave all there as proof.

He might do a good job at looking meek and harmless, but he isn’t.

So Raven isn’t certain he’s as under Clarke’s control as he seems.

Murphy on the other hand makes no effort to hide how shaky Clarke’s control over him is. “All I did was come over for a friendly chat, slave to slave and next thing I know -”

“Shut up, Murphy,” Clarke says, sounding exhausted.

How the hell did Indra get Murphy to go from this to 'sha, seda' in under a week?

Raven suspects it involved violence.

Good, they can do that.

 

If Murphy doesn’t shut his damn mouth and Bellamy has to wait a moment longer, he’s going to need to be dragged off him again.

“Clarke,” he says, it doesn’t feel quite right, but there’s no way he’s using Hainofi either. “I’m sorry I messed up my tally on my first attempt.” He rubs his wrist. “I can do better, if you give me another chance.”

“I made it clear you would have as many chances as it takes,” Clarke tells him. Suddenly it’s much easier to act as though Murphy isn’t there. “I also made it clear that I would hear both sides of an accusation against you and judge if said accusation is fair. Who wants to start?”

Well, that got Murphy motivated to shut the hell up.

“The accusation is fair,” Bellamy says, a little bitterly. “I acted as I would were I not trying to change. He did provoke me, but I never claimed to be blameless.”

He can see Murphy’s startled expression out of the corner of his eye and feels smug. See if Murphy is justified in calling him a liar after that.

Now it’ll be obvious who’s actually lying.

“Okay, yeah, if he’s going to do the noble thing …” Murphy hesitates. “Not that I’m saying I’m being noble here. When am I ever? I’ve been trying to – to find out the rules. The punishments for breaking them. So, I found a rule I knew had to exist and broke it. Because obviously there’s absolutely no other way I could have found out.”

It’s not what Bellamy expected. At most he’d expected Murphy to admit to baiting him, not to doing it with the intention of ending up here. Why the hell would Murphy want that?

Why the hell would Murphy say he wanted that unless it was true?

Clarke nods acceptance of their statements, then just watches them for a long moment. “Bellamy, as agreed you will not receive a tally mark for the day, you may choose to complete it regardless or stop now. Murphy, strip, you can leave your underwear, and bend over the box.”

It’s not fair.

Bellamy really really hates that he feels it isn’t.

He expects Murphy to protest, he’s the one who’s worse off from this, but instead Murphy shrugs to himself and starts undoing his shoelaces.

There’s something about the set of Murphy’s shoulders that troubles Bellamy. He looks … defeated.

Bellamy had thought that was impossible.

He’d also thought he’d be happy to see it.

He can’t do this.

Much as he wants to see Murphy hurt, he’s now realizing he wants to see him fighting it just as much.

This blank acceptance ...

It’s just unfair.

“No,” Bellamy says and everyone turns to look at him. “Clarke, that’s not fair.” He can’t look to check Murphy’s reaction. “I’m as at fault here.”

“And I told you your punishment,” Clarke says coldly. “You have spent half a day of service more than necessary. You have already received it.”

Bellamy doesn’t feel especially punished. He’s also willing to tell Clarke exactly how much of a bitch she’s being. “You told me when I agreed to your terms that the service wasn’t a punishment. Was that a lie? I’ve spent half a day working towards becoming a better person, doesn’t matter if I have a little mark on my wrist at the end or not, because those tallies aren’t going to represent how much time I’ve spent. They’re going to represent the people I’ve killed. So that even when this thing is over, I don’t forget to stop working towards that. I’m sorry, but this breaks our agreement. You also said, that in cases when the crime was severe enough, I’d be punished. I could have permanently crippled someone. I’d call that severe.”

He doesn’t mention Murphy at all. In as far as that’s possible.

He isn’t doing this for him.

Bellamy is doing this for himself.

 

Stupid selfless bastard.

Murphy was just fine with taking the damn punishment and float what happened to Bellamy. It hadn’t been about getting Bellamy in trouble, though he’ll admit it was a nice bonus. He’s glad he messed up whatever Bellamy was trying to do.

So it’s really cruel of Bellamy to go and be the better man about this.

Murphy pauses halfway undressed to watch Clarke’s judgement. He kind of has to admire Bellamy for having the balls to look her in the eye and directly challenge her authority and judgement.

Then again it’s not like Murphy’s never done that before and mostly he thinks it’s because he’s too stupid to know better.

He doesn’t think Bellamy is stupid.

Sure he has a stupid face and stupid hair and stupid opinions, but he’s not an idiot.

He gets all that social stuff that lets you make friends.

Politics or whatever it’s called.

Something close to a smile plays across Clarke’s face for a second and Murphy narrows his eyes. Did she floating plan this? She would. She absolutely would.

She did.

Now Murphy respects that kind of bald faced bitchiness.

Clarke sees him watching her and raises an eyebrow, reminding him he’s been given an actual order to follow. He focuses on listening, undressing through muscle memory.

She sounds apologetic as she sighs and says, “I’m sorry, Bellamy. I’m scared of messing this whole thing up. You’re right. It’s not fair. You’re equally at fault, so I should punish you the same. I – um, could you?” Clarke gestures vaguely in Murphy’s direction and he considers breaking into applause.

Murphy is going to treasure the memory of Bellamy’s expression, as he realizes he’s just talked Clarke into beating him, forever.

“Quit smirking and get into position, Murphy,” Clarke orders, but there’s a hint of mischief in her expression.

Okay, he still doesn’t trust her, but if he can just keep himself out of the firing line she’s going to be very entertaining to watch.

Right now, Murphy is firmly in that firing line, so he turns his back on most of the council, skin prickling at awareness that the danger is now behind him. He’s half surprised to find himself facing Miller, for some reason he hadn’t felt that awareness until now.

Still he gives Miller a cocky grin as he drops to his knees and lays his torso across the box. Murphy has no idea how long he’s going to be here or where specifically Clarke wants access to, so he goes with the most comfortable option. The one he can hold indefinitely.

Murphy turns his head to the side so he can watch Bellamy copy him. Either he’s using the same logic or he just doesn’t know what he’s doing.

Bellamy has the attitude of someone who hasn’t been beaten nearly enough.

Murphy knows he himself has the attitude of someone who’s been beaten far too much.

They’re often identical.

He knows both of them can take this. Clarke had taken a switch to Bellamy until he broke and barely drawn blood, she has to rely on emotion and time over strength. Now, performing against each other, she hasn’t got what it’s going to take.

Murphy knows exactly how much pain he can take and that that amount rises a lot if he has something to prove. Right now, he has to prove he’s less of a coward than Bellamy. They lock eyes, unspoken challenge accepted.

They’ll be back here as soon as the marks heal. Maybe sooner.

Only of course Clarke has to have a floating card up her sleeve.

“Miller, if you would?” she says.

Maybe Clarke’s got a chance at winning this fight after all.

Murphy can’t wait to find out.

 

Miller has to admit it’s a great view.

Okay, Murphy is scrawnier than he’d prefer, but how much Miller actually wants to thrash him more than makes up for that. Bellamy, though, Bellamy has a great ass.

And maybe in a few hours or so Clarke will finally be done playing games with their heads and Miller can get the hell on with it.

Apparently Clarke had figured out a new trick when she’d had to punish Raven and now she’s practicing it. Miller guesses it reminds them they’re here because of choices they’ve made or something like that, but since she already knows what answer they’re going to give it seems like a waste of time to him.

Twelve with boxers or ten without. It’s a trick question. Bellamy has no idea which is the worse option, so he’ll go with whatever Murphy says and Murphy won’t even take the humiliation into consideration, just the fact the underwear makes next to no different in the pain levels. Clarke may as well have asked them if they wanted to take ten or twelve, which is a very stupid question.

Besides it’ll mean Miller can actually judge how much damage he’s causing. Clarke is the only one here, as far as he knows, who’s done this before.

Everyone had taken some convincing when Harper had said Murphy should go first. It had taken Finn taking her side to turn the debate. Miller isn’t particularly fussed.

Finally, finally, Clarke gives him the nod to go ahead.

Murphy and Bellamy are entirely focused on each other, which means that with his back to the rest of the council Miller can pretend he’s not being watched, he’s not the one who should be embarrassed here.

The switch Harper had produced, and at this rate they’re all going to end up with crafting skills related solely to making fetish gear, is more like an entire branch. Miller hesitates to call it a cane, that sounding like it should refer to something more ... professionally made, but switch sounds like something much lighter and flexible, so cane it is.

Clarke hadn’t been able to swing it with any actual force. She’d brought it down on her own leg to test it, which had made everyone present cringe, even when it’d been immediately obvious she wasn’t hurt. Miller had done the same when she’d asked if anyone else wanted to try. He’s still got the welt and he’s been claiming he pulled a muscle.

It’s more believable than the truth.

There’s no way anyone’s going to make that mistake with Bellamy or Murphy.

Miller gauges the distance and angle by starting at the target and drawing back from there. Then he does it again, because the little shiver it sends through Murphy is adorable. The third time Miller brings the cane down with force behind it.

Murphy takes it in silence. If it wasn’t for the visible welt, Miller might have thought he’d missed or not put enough strength into it. He glances over his shoulder at the council, who have a pretty even mix of annoyance and respect on their faces. They’d all known, in theory or practice, that Murphy could take a hit, but none of them have seen him do anything without complaining loudly.

Miller waits on Clarke’s nod. The silence just means they’ll have an obvious measure of Murphy’s tolerance. It feels honest.

Any pain is more than Murphy wants, but he’s not planning on making a fuss about it until it actually becomes a problem.

Clarke nods and Miller swings again, aiming for minimal overlap, but also minimal gaps. If he can fit five above the thigh then he only has to go over already welted skin once. Less chance of drawing blood. Somehow Miller doubts Murphy will appreciate the concern.

Murphy gasps almost silently on the fourth, taking deep breaths. Miller bets he’s biting into his lip, preferring to cause himself even more pain than show weakness.

Idiot.

They all know he’s in pain. There’s nothing to be gained from hiding the fact.

Except to spite Bellamy.

Miller has to admit his annoyance at Murphy’s stubbornness has a factor in the extra bit of force he adds to the fifth. It lands right across the point where buttocks meet thighs and though it should have been entirely expected given the pattern, Murphy jerks and swears in what sounds like Grounder.

Odd choice.

Except Murphy’s never been able to stop at just one word. He starts spitting insults, directed at anyone and anything. All the sixth and seventh do is force him to stumble over his words.

Miller gives up on ignoring it when Murphy accuses him of only doing this because he enjoys it. He doesn’t look to Clarke for permission, just crouches next to Murphy, clamps his empty hand down on the back of his neck and leans in to say, “You’re half right. I’m not gonna lie and say I’m not enjoying this, hell knows you deserve it, but I’m doing this because you asked me to. Not because of any promises Clarke made or because you deserve it, but because you looked me in the eye and asked me to. So, you don’t get to be angry at me for it.” He strokes his thumb a few times over Murphy’s pulse, it’s far faster than Miller likes. “I get it, you’re scared, but the answer isn’t to try and make me angry. All that’s gonna do is justify that fear and I don’t want to do that. I don’t want you scared of me. Nod when you’re good to continue, okay?”

He keeps his hand right where it is, listening to Murphy’s ragged breathing. The insults might have stopped, but this frozen panic isn’t better. Miller isn’t sure how long he spends petting Murphy’s neck until his breathing calms. No one else speaks, which is good, because right now Miller is pretty sure he’d punch anyone who did.

Once even Murphy’s heartbeat has calmed a little, Miller asks again if he’s good to continue and this time Murphy nods. The moment Miller lets go, Murphy hides his face in his arms, breaking his staring contest with Bellamy. Miller isn’t sure that means Murphy lost.

If there even was or could be a winner.

Miller’s much more sure that Murphy’s already crying before the eighth blow lands. He’s stopped fighting his own response to the pain and the noise he makes hurts Miller’s heart, but there’s still two to go and Murphy doesn’t want his pity.

Or his mercy.

The moment the tenth lands, Clarke shouts for Miller to stop. He had no intention of continuing, was already lowering the cane, but he nods in acceptance of the order anyway. He gets why she needed to give it.

Miller is reluctant to leave Murphy crying, but he’s also aware of Bellamy’s eyes on him. He hesitates, caught between the pair.

That’s when Clarke brushes past Miller.

 

It’s complete instinct.

Clarke doesn’t remember making the conscious decision to rise and go to Murphy.

Hell, she’d been upset when Miller had decided to stop and make sure he was okay.

But Clarke can no more leave him there than she could ignore the state of his arm last time.

Murphy flinches away from her arm over his shoulders, but he doesn’t try to shrug it off, just cries harder.

So that’s what it takes to break him.

_Kindness._

Should have been obvious.

“Miller,” Clarke says, “You aren’t done.”

He still hesitates, making sure she’s not planning on abandoning or hurting Murphy more. Whatever Miller sees it must convince him, because a moment later Clarke hears the crack of the cane again. Murphy startles, confused when the pain doesn’t belong to him and Clarke takes the opportunity to guide him up and towards her.

Murphy tries to scrub at his face with his bandaged arm and Clarke pulls it away, she’s had more than enough of his attempts to make it worse. Instead she sadly sacrifices the sleeve of her jacket to the cause.

Once she’s finished dabbing his face, they meet eyes. Murphy already looks ready to fight or run. Clarke glares him down and he drops his gaze. The moment she’s convinced he’s genuinely submitted, Clarke grabs his shirt and offers it to him.

He deals with his boxers first, pulling them on without showing any pain response and back to meeting her eyes. Clarke allows it, since Murphy looks down at the shirt as he takes it.

“You’re a bitch, Clarke,” he informs her, “and I’m not playing against someone who rigs the game. You win, but you already knew that.” Murphy settles his leather jacket onto his shoulders and stands and if his eyes weren’t still red, Clarke would never believe she’d thought he was broken moments before.

Even the lack of trousers doesn’t seem to matter.

He’s put his armor back on.

Clarke smiles up at him.

Now she knows how to get through it.

 

Harper was right.

She’s usually right.

Be nice if people recognized that more.

Of course that might lead to people wanting her to help them and that’s not good.

Bellamy has already lost, the actual caning is just a formality.

Like a graduation.

You’ve already learned what you need to, this bit just says ‘and we know it too.’

Like a tally mark.

Pike had been wrong.

It’s not about the need to fight side by side, it’s about the need to not fight in the ranks.

This isn’t the Delinquents against the world, this is stopping Delinquent again Delinquent. If Murphy and Bellamy are to stay, they can’t be allowed to stay at each others throats.

Their disobedience is just an excuse to force them to accept Clarke’s leadership. Once they’ve done that, they can sort out their issues without bloodshed.

Even if Harper has to lock them in a room together tied up again.

Not that she knows exactly how that went after she and Wells left, but they were all alive and nearly undamaged by the morning. Harper had asked Finn, but he’d said it wasn’t his place to tell.

Those are the _best_ kind of secrets.

 

Bellamy surrenders.

Clarke’s floating won.

He gets it.

So Miller can stop now.

Please.

He thinks he might be begging.

Murphy’s definitely laughing at him.

Even if not out loud, because Clarke would strangle him.

But definitely laughing.

And not in any way crying in Clarke’s arms.

Because that’s not how Murphy works.

He’s unbreakable.

No limits.

Relentless.

Dangerous.

And the look of panic when Miller had tried to comfort him.

The way Murphy’s eyes had softened as that panic receded.

The way he’d tried to hide his tears.

Bellamy had already seen them.

He’d wanted to force Murphy to let him see.

To have the right to give that order and have it followed.

It had been different to watching Finn.

All Finn had wanted was the pain to end.

Murphy.

Bellamy doesn’t know what Murphy wants.

But he wants to find out.

So he can give or deny it as he wishes.

Murphy knows exactly what Bellamy wants.

He even seems inclined to give it.

But Murphy never gives anything away for free.

So Bellamy needs to stop trying to take it.

See if they can make a deal instead.

 

Octavia finds the river.

The one Clarke had led them into several lifetimes ago.

She knows the way home from here.

The way back to Bellamy.

Octavia isn’t sure how she feels about seeing him again. She’s not sure he’ll recognize her. He knew the Girl Under the Floor not the Girl Under the Mountain.

At least he won’t have changed.

They’ve built a wall.

And there’s an army camped outside it.

It can’t be a siege, that wall would do nothing to keep Trikru out, but …

Octavia smiles grimly, she knows how to deal with imprisonment. Everyone seems to want to keep her in a box. Even if she walks willingly into this one, she’ll walk out again.

No matter what.

One of the sentries spots her and recognizes her. Octavia doesn’t recognize him.

Doesn’t matter.

What matters is Bellamy running to her, scooping her up off her feet into an embrace. Octavia clings.

She’s home.

She’s back where she belongs.

Doesn’t matter it’s another cage, she’s free.

Because she’s with Bellamy.

“O,” Bellamy says, in the tone of a sleepwalker. “How are you here? The explosion, that was to get you out. Is anyone with you? Did you have to get here all by yourself? It’s okay, I’m never letting them near you again. The Ark’s almost down, we can go to them …”

“Bellamy, shut up,” Octavia tells him and he’s shocked enough to do so. “I’m here because Jasper and Monty stayed and I’m not running another step until they’re out too. Maya as well, if it’s possible. I’m here to fetch Clarke. She’ll save them and I’m going with her when she goes. You can stay here or come with us or go to the Ark, whatever you want, I’ll always come back to you.”

“No, we’re both going to the Ark,” Bellamy insists. “It’s too dangerous. Last time I let you leave you - O, you’ve been gone for weeks, they told me you were dead. I’m not letting you go.”

“Like I said, come with me,” Octavia pulls out of the hug. “I survived without your help, I can do it again, but I don’t want to. Float the Ark, they want both of us dead, that’s not safety. At best it’s a new prison, at worst …”

“Then we find somewhere else, somewhere safe. Kali’s village, if Indra was willing to take Murphy then … or – or Podakru or Polis.”

“Who the hell is Kali? And I escaped Podakru once, I’m not going back to be sold to whoever’s willing to pay. There is no safe place. Never has been. Just more or less comfy prisons. So we need to make our own. With all our people.”

“I don’t have any people besides you, O.” Bellamy reaches out to hug her again and she steps back.

“Good, then they won’t have a problem with mine.” Back straight, Octavia tries to go around Bellamy, but he grabs her arm.

“I don’t have a problem with Monty or Jasper. I have a problem with you risking your life for them.”

“What if it was you, Bellamy?” Octavia asks. “Would you be okay with me risking my life then?”

“No, of course not.”

“But if it were me - you left me there, Bellamy. You stayed right here and - I don’t even know what you did, but it certainly wasn’t coming to rescue your sister!”

“I went! I went and I looked and you were gone. You left your clothes on a riverbank, what was I supposed to think had happened? But I never gave up on you, when Clarke came back and said you were with Podakru I wanted to leave immediately.”

Octavia’s voice is cold and deadly. “Then why didn’t you?”

Bellamy pauses. “It’s a long story.”

“I want to hear it. What was so important it kept you here?”

He wants to tell her the truth, doesn’t want her to know it. “I was kept here. The Grounders imprisoned me.”

Octavia doesn’t even question the reason for the imprisonment, just accepts it as a danger of life. “You don’t look very imprisoned now, even if they have an army outside your wall. There’s a thousand ways you could get out of here.”

“It’s not my wall,” Bellamy says automatically. “It’s Wells’.”

“Wells? The Chancellor’s son?” Octavia frowns. “Why does he get a wall?”

There’s too much truth and too many people who know for Bellamy to keep avoiding it. Better she hear it from him. “Because he built it. O, I’m not in charge here any more. Haven’t been since you left actually. Me and Wells, our fight got – out of hand. People got hurt. People got killed. That’s why the Grounders locked me up. No, that’s why Clarke locked me up.”

“Did she lock Wells up too?”

This is harder than kneeling in front of a hostile audience and confessing to killing two hundred and twenty people. “No. I shot him. In the leg, he’s fine now, mostly. He got in my way, between you and me. But, O, I didn’t … I didn’t stop trying to come after you then. Not just because I’d been imprisoned.” Bellamy takes a deep breath. “I killed someone, her name was Afi, she was a Grounder, when I tried to escape. I didn’t get away. Clarke … Clarke was merciful. Let me take my punishment and try to move on.” He shakes his head. “She had to handcuff me to stop me leaving right after. The only reason I stayed was because she found out where you were and promised to help me rescue you. We’re waiting for the Ark and then we, Arkers and Grounders, are marching on Mount Weather. I never gave up, not for a second.”

Octavia meets his eyes. “Then you should understand that I’m not giving up. I didn’t run to be free, I ran to get help. Clarke’s help, just like you have. Don’t get in my way.”

Bellamy lets go of her arm and Octavia turns away, expression turning to a relieved grin when she sees someone has fetched Clarke. They embrace. It makes Bellamy angry, of course Octavia is Clarke’s now, everyone and everything else seems to be.

Clarke’s taken everything.

She can’t have his sister.

 

Murphy goes to visit Indra.

She’d said he was welcome and he wouldn’t be himself if he wasn’t willing to test that.

Indra is overseeing training and looks away to clap him on the shoulder when he arrives. In Indra terms it’s like hanging up a banner saying Welcome Home, Kikabug. Murphy grins and watches the fight with her.

He can see her taking in the fact he hasn’t taken off the collar and the signs of pain he’s doing his best to hide. Murphy startles when Indra puts her arm around his shoulder.

“So, uh, how’s the seken situation?” Murphy asks, then mentally kicks himself, now he sounds like he’s angling to get that job back.

Luckily Indra doesn’t sound apologetic when she gestures towards a girl aged about ten standing on the rungs of the fence to lean in and shout encouragement. “Her name is Losi,” Indra tells him, pronouncing it like Lucy, “and she’s been asking to meet the hero who made alliance with magic.”

“I’m not a hero,” Murphy protests. “Give her someone better to want to be.”

“Go tell her that then,” Indra says. “I, however, think Losi could learn much from your caution and … subtlety.”

Murphy stares at her, then looks over to Losi. “If that wasn’t a joke - you really don’t like picking sekens to make things easier on yourself.”

Indra doesn’t answer, but Murphy notices the hint of amusement.

“As my seda commands,” he says, with a mockingly little bow. “I’ll get her out of your hair for a bit. Let her stay up late, eat too much candy and watch movies she’s too young for and then return her just as the sugar crash hits.”

Indra clearly doesn’t understand the exact words, but she gets the gist of them and cuffs the back of Murphy’s head lightly. He ducks, but not quite enough to fully avoid it, grins up at her and is halfway towards Losi before Indra can lecture him.

Murphy feels like he should probably be jealous of Losi, but she’s like six and a third of his body mass, it’s hard to even think of her as capable of taking anything from him. Course he remembers what he was like at that age and the shit he and Mbege got away with just because no one thought they were capable of it. That had been before his dad had stopped being around, so they didn’t get away with everything.

He kind of wonders where Losi’s dad is.

“Hey, kid,” Murphy says, leaning his good arm on the fence next to Losi. “Indra tells me you’re a little shit. Good thing she’s got a soft spot for those or I’d be screwed.”

Losi squints up at him with surprisingly intense grey eyes. “You’re Kikabug,” she informs him, “Indra told me you’re a little shit, too.”

Murphy grins. “Oh, my dear padawan, I’m far worse than that. Let me instruct you in the art of chaos. I mean, it’s probably not what Indra meant when she asked me to teach you something, but, like, as far as marketable skills go, all I’ve got is that or how to take a beating and that one you can learn anytime right here.” He nods towards the fighting.

“What’s a padawan?” Losi frowns. “Indra calls me Tripeka.”

“Treep-? Oh, woodpecker.” Murphy considers it, trying to figure out what about Losi inspired that nickname. “Padawan is a Skaikru word, means seken.”

Losi nods in satisfaction and jumps down from the fence, folds her arms and demands, “Well, teach me then.”

“Okay, Tripeka,” Murphy ruffles her hair which is cut as short as his. “First lesson is not telling Indra about anything I teach you.”

“Why?”

“’Cause I don’t think she’d be happy about you learning to do illegal stuff without getting caught, but the way I see it, you’re gonna wind up doing that stuff eventually, may as well not get in trouble when you do. Why does Indra call you Tripeka?”

“She says I’m relentless,” Losi says with a grin, clearly thinking that’s a compliment.

Murphy agrees that it is. “Been called that myself a few times. Don’t let anyone discourage you from it.”

Losi tosses her head. “I won’t.”

 

“Monty and Jasper?” is Clarke’s first question once she’s satisfied Octavia isn’t hurt in any way that needs immediate attention.

“They stayed so I could get to you,” Octavia says. “Mount Weather is worse than you think. You know why they take Outsiders? To keep themselves alive. They take their blood and throw away the bodies like trash! And there’s something they’ve found out about us, those from the Ark, that they think might save them permanently. They didn’t experiment on us yet, but, but Jasper practically volunteered when he blew a hole in the room where they were keeping the Outsiders. And Monty, their President adopted him, tried to turn him into a monster too. I don’t know if it would be better for Monty to be being experimented on too or unhurt in that stupid suit they make him wear! There’s a girl named Maya and if they so much as suspect she helped us, I don’t know what they’ll do to her! We have to go now.”

Clarke puts her hands on Octavia’s shoulders. “Calm, the Ark’s due down any moment, in fact they’re a little late, and then we’re all marching on Mount Weather. What I need right now is for you to tell me everything you remember about the place, layout, guards, security, population, anything.”

Octavia grins and twists to pull a sheaf of paper held together with lengths of string through two rough holes out of her backpack. “How about a map?”

Above them there’s a growing light as the Ark enters the atmosphere.

“A map is perfect,” Clarke says.

 

Murphy takes Losi to the Delinquent camp, finds Mbege, Jason and Jacob sitting around the fire and crouches to join them. “Hey, Sparky, Idiot,” he says casually. “You still the people to come to for property damage? Mbege, you can tag along, as long as you promise -”

“Fuck off,” Mbege tells him, rudely.

“What?” Murphy pushes himself back to his feet, just to give himself the stability if it turns into a fight. “You sign up to Miller’s no fun allowed brigade like Atom?”

Mbege stands too, pressing his height and bulk advantage. “No, but you signed up to Clarke’s. After you floated off to the Grounders that is. And everyone knows it was Atom you came back to screw. Bellamy’s Atom. I’ve got no fucking clue where your loyalty's at, but it’s not with us. So. Fuck. Off.”

“You think I had a floating choice with any of that? I was exiled and the only offer I got to come back came with a cute little neck accessory! And as for Atom, who I choose to share a tent with is no one’s business but my own, unless you’re jealous of him?”

“You know I’ve never given a shit who you’re screwing, but if you could come back to screw him, you could have come back to visit us. Atom betrayed you, I never did, Jason never did, Jacob never did. But you abandoned us and as long as that collar stays around your throat, you’re not welcome. Especially not with a little Grounder bitch following you.”

Murphy punches Mbege in the face.

Or he tries, but there’s a hand wrapped around his arm that isn’t allowing it.

Murphy twists, resigning himself to needing to use his injured arm, only to cringe under Miller’s glare.

Mbege backs off immediately, sitting back down with the sullen Jason and Jacob.

Losi on the other hand goes straight for Miller’s kneecaps. Miller lets go of Murphy and tries to deal with the angry child trying to climb him to get to somewhere she can do some damage unarmed.

“Losi!” Murphy shouts. “Odon!”

Unlike himself one day into his time as Indra’s seken, Losi knows to respond to that order. She backs away, hands still clenched in tiny fists. “Sha, bro, but …”

“This is Miller,” Murphy tells her. “He’s Hainofi Clarke’s Setneshona.”

Losi’s eyes go wide and she quickly bows in Miller’s direction. “Sorry, Setneshona.” She turns and hisses in Murphy’s direction. “He’s not dressed right!”

Murphy bites back a laugh. “Skaikru have different costumes. See all the people with weapons, they come in three types. There’s the fossopas, Finn and Wells’ lot, greys, greens and browns, Finn’s the best of them, but he doesn’t wear anything special, carries a spear like a Hunter. Wells doesn’t even carry a weapon. You can identify him by the limp and the fact he’s halfway up Clarke’s ass at all times.”

Losi giggles and Miller stares at the pair of them.

“Hunters, same clothes as the fossopas, but they have spears. Miller here runs them as well as the gonas. Hunters used to be mine, though. Gonas are the ones who aren’t dressed for hiding, solid black most of them, they want to be seen. Miller doesn’t have the decency to indicate he’s the lead gona, but he is and now you know that. Not that you’d have wanted to attack any of the other gonas.”

Losi looks like she’s considering that it might be worth it and Murphy laughs. She opens her mouth for another question, but he needs to deal with Miller first.

“Miller, I promise I’ll report to Clarke’s tent later for a lecture, but Indra wanted me to occupy Losi for a bit,” Murphy says, then raises his voice a little to make sure those around the fire can hear him. “Mbege just decided to be an ass about letting a baby Grounder into camp.”

“Mbege wasn’t caned this morning for fighting,” Miller points out, not seeming particularly angry any more. Then again the bastard had been completely calm when literally beating him.

Murphy puts his hands over Losi’s ears. “Don’t tell her about that, I’ll never be able to convince her I’m a suitable role model now! Do you want her to follow my example?”

“No, and I don’t want to waste Clarke’s time with this, either,” Miller says, impassive. “Give me your jacket.”

“Huh?” Murphy stares at him, while Losi removes Murphy’s hands from her ears.

“Your jacket,” Miller repeats. “I’m confiscating it, you can get it back tomorrow morning, if you don’t end up in another fight before that.”

“It’s cold,” Murphy says automatically. It isn’t.

“Then use a blanket,” Miller says unmoved.

Murphy scowls. “Don’t have one. No one bothered to assign me a tent and since I’m not her seken, I can’t just go back to the cot in Indra’s.” He anticipates Miller’s next question. “Slept in your council storage tent last night, until Wells kicked me out and told me to quit hiding from work.”

It’s a mix of triumph and sickness that Murphy feels when Miller starts feeling sorry for him. Whatever, if he gets to keep his jacket, he doesn’t care.

He’s just trying to get out of punishment.

Miller nods, coming to a decision. “Okay, my tent is over there, there’s room for another cot, I’ll get that sorted. I really can’t think of anyone else willing to share with you and I’m not building a whole new tent or leaving you unsupervised overnight.” Clearly he can guess the exact comment Murphy is about to make about being kept prisoner. “I’m not giving you a curfew or anything, I spend half my nights with Jackson anyway, but there’s plenty like Mbege who aren’t happy you’re back. No one’s going to fuck with you if they have to fuck with me to do it.”

Murphy wants to take the deal, hell, he’d have accepted even if Miller did want to give him a curfew, but now it’s been presented as purely benefiting Murphy he wants to know the catch. “And what do you get out of this? I’m a shit roommate. Even Indra lost patience with it.”

“Well, first I get to keep your jacket until morning, second, I feel a little less guilty about how much spare space I have, third, I get to keep you safe and finally, I get the boost to my reputation that comes with apparently having you under control.” Miller holds out his hand.

Murphy really doesn’t want to examine the third reason, so he shrugs off his jacket and hangs it on Miller’s hand. “Just as long as we both understand I’m not under your control.”

Miller’s answer doesn’t exactly comfort Murphy. “Oh, I know exactly how much control I have, don’t worry about that.”

Murphy shivers.

What?

He’s cold without his jacket.

Murphy turns back to Losi only to find she’s vanished.

Great, now Indra’s going to kill him too.

 

Kali sweeps into the dropship where Clarke is going over Octavia’s map with Finn, Wells and Raven.

“How big exactly are the air ducts?” Clarke asks Octavia.

Before she can answer, Kali shoves Raven against the wall. “What did you do, Tekamin?” Kali asks. “Light in sky. What is it and how you make it?”

“Great to know you’re so confident about my ability to cause it,” Raven says. “But -”

Clarke interrupts, “Raven called down the light, yes. We promised you magic to help with Mount Weather. So we have summoned more of our people, each wielding magic, to join your war. To join our war.”

It’s an interesting interpretation of the facts.

But Kali lets go of her, so Raven’s not going to argue.

“You bring more Skaikru?” Kali’s anger turns on Clarke. “That wasn’t yumi agreement. Using Tekamin’s tricks isn’t same as inviting bandragen army in Trikru land! Send emo back!”

Clarke shakes her head. “It’s not possible. The magic that kept our ship in the sky had to be broken to bring them, there’s no way to – to cast it again. Now they are here and they will help. They aren’t your enemy, Kali.”

Kali spits at Raven’s feet. “All who use magic be like ai enemy. Magic is holy. You disrespect Flamekeepers holy magic.”

Raven steps forward, but Finn puts a hand on her arm and she remembers who is the person with a sword in the room.

Clarke steps up to Kali in Raven’s place. “Talk to Indra and Anya, see how they feel about my methods of bringing down the Mountain. See if they’re so willing to throw away the weapon that will save Trikru.”

Kali stares down at her. “If yumi alliance break, Indra’s people will die, em will take any weapon offered. Anya has never trust you and now, I see she right. I will try stop your people from dying with you, but betrayal must be answer, Hainofi.” She sweeps out, leaving the Delinquents processing.

There’s silence, eventually broken by Raven. “What a bitch.”

Clarke turns on Raven for lack of a better target. “Kali was our greatest ally until you showed up!”

Wells steps partially between them. “And now Indra is. That’s how this works. You don’t get to choose your allies, just try and have some. Kali’s prejudices are not Raven’s fault. And, I’m sorry, but Mount Weather isn’t our war, never has been. We should have been working on preparing the way for the Ark, not trying to save -”

Octavia grabs Wells’ arm and spins him to face her. “Say that again. Look me in the eye and say you wouldn’t have saved me!”

“I wouldn’t have saved you,” Wells tells her, honestly and calmly. “And Clarke, making the Grounders think the Arkers are an army was an incredibly stupid thing to do. They were unhappy enough about a hundred child refugees, how do you imagine they’ll feel about a magic army? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to radio the Ark and see what I can do to clean up your mess.”

“Clarke’s doing her best!” Finn is still solidly on her side.

“Wells,” Clarke says, “We need to work together on this. I thought they’d be happy … I thought …”

“Maybe Kali’s wrong about Anya,” Finn says quietly. “It’s Anya’s decision …”

Raven glares at Wells and says, “Now, I remember a time when Clarke was cleaning up your mess. So the pair of you quit it and go fix this. I’ll update the Ark, see what they have to say, I mean, I notice Clarke never bothered telling them they were going to need to fight a war when they got here. Make the Grounders think Kali’s paranoid about technology and that the Arkers are harmless refugees too.”

Octavia stares between all of them. “And what about Jasper and Monty?! You’re just going to leave them to float? I made a mistake coming here for help, you’re all cowards!” She’s run before anyone can say anything.

The four of them look at each other, stuck.

“I’ll go talk to Octavia,” Finn volunteers. “Wells, Clarke, Grounders. Raven, radio. Okay?”

Everyone nods and splits off in various directions.

That could have gone better.

Possibly it could have gone worse as well.

 

Murphy is dead. He was looking after Indra’s seken for all of two minutes before he lost her.

Because he’d been distracted by Miller and Mbege.

“Hey, Finn,” Murphy yells, spotting him over by the dropship. “You seen a girl? Grounder, young -”

“Octavia’s missing!” Finn calls back.

“Yeah, I know! She’s in Mount Weather?!”

“She came back - and now she’s gone again!” Finn jogs off.

Murphy sighs, feeling like he sympathizes with Bellamy for the first time ever.

“Your Grounder girl is in the cook tent, green, smoke coming out the roof,” Harper materializes behind Murphy who has to restrain himself from punching her. “Don’t tell Bellamy Octavia’s gone.” With that she’s off in the same direction as Finn.

“Sneaky Aiopa bitch,” Murphy mutters. “Could have told me that twenty minutes ago when Losi went missing, but nooooo, has to wait until it’s all dramatic and shit. Bet she was really enjoying watching me suffer.” He enters the cook tent to find Losi is indeed there, along with the youngest of the Delinquents, about the same age, who Murphy can’t name, begging food from Bellamy.

“Hey, quit that,” Murphy tells her. “Don’t bother the nasty man, especially not when he’s got fire and knives around.”

Bellamy looks up in confusion. “Leave them alone, they’re just kids, your problem is with me, not them. Leave them out of it.”

“I would,” Murphy says, “only Losi is Indra’s new seken and I’m babysitting. So my problem with you means I don’t trust you anywhere near her.”

“Murphy?” Losi asks, “What’s wrong? Charlotte said he was kind.”

Bellamy shakes his head once. “I’m a lot of things, but I wouldn’t hurt a child.”

“Losi, you and Charlotte should go play outside,” Murphy says. “You know, Blake, I haven’t turned eighteen yet. Legally I’m a child. So what’s the limit? Sixteen? Fourteen? Twelve? What age exactly?”

Losi tugs on Murphy’s sleeve. “You’re gonna make Setneshona mad.”

“Let me worry about Miller,” Murphy tells her, stepping between her and Bellamy.

Bellamy raises his empty hands. “I’m not fighting you, Murphy. Learned my lesson there. Look, Octavia’s back and it’s making me reconsider some stuff. So, I want to call a truce.” He holds out a hand for Murphy to shake.

It’s not surprising that Murphy just looks at his hand as though it’s a poisonous snake. “Until just now when Harper told me Octavia’s run off again, I’d have taken that truce. What did you do? What scared her off?”

“O’s …” Bellamy lowers his hand and closes his eyes for a long moment. “I ordered her not to go back for Monty and Jasper. She didn’t take it well.”

Murphy watches him briefly. “Okay, truce. For Losi and Octavia and Indra and Clarke and the damned Mountain. Just don’t expect me to pretend we’re friends again.”

“We were never friends, Murphy,” Bellamy says, half sad half angry. “I used you.”

There’s a pause and then Murphy starts laughing. “No, sorry, gonna have to rephrase that, Bellamy. You make it sound like we … uh, you’re not supposed to take about sex in front of kids, right? … Shit, Bellamy, did you have to tell Octavia …”

“Murphy, shut up,” Bellamy says, but there’s no bite in it. “No, we had a mother, I did not have to deal with that conversation and if we don’t stop, you get to be the one to explain, first what we’re talking about to Losi and then to Indra why she knows.”

Murphy makes a gesture of zipping his mouth. “Hey, weren’t you gonna give them something to eat?”

“I was not,” Bellamy tells him, desperately ignoring Charlotte and Losi’s pleading expressions. He also chooses to ignore the fact that Murphy is already palming a couple of flat berry cakes.

“If you finish that with saying they’ll ruin their appetites, I will lose all respect for you, mom,” Murphy informs him, doing a terrible job of hiding that he’s giving the cakes to Charlotte and Losi.

“You had respect for me?” Bellamy asks, offering him a cloth to brush the crumbs off his hands.

Murphy looks unashamed about being ‘caught.’ “Well, more fear of, but now I have Losi to protect me …”

Losi grins up at him and opens her other hand to show him the half eaten cake she’d already stolen, then she and Charlotte make a run for it.

Murphy grins helplessly after them for a second.

Bellamy meets his expression with a tired grin of his own.

“You need any help finding Octavia?” Murphy offers.

 

Octavia is lost.

She’s not too sad about it.

She can’t go back to Mount Weather alone.

Not for anything.

Because if she does the only thing she’ll have managed is to give the Wallaces a third test subject.

Clarke could do it.

Bellamy could do it.

But they won’t.

Because they have more important stuff.

And Clarke’s Octavia can kind of understand, she’s got a whole hundred others to look after.

But Bellamy.

Bellamy is just wrong. Octavia isn’t more valuable than Jasper and Monty.

Or than all the Grounders Mount Weather is going to kill.

They might never work out the solution.

They might just go back to using Grounders.

One life isn’t worth that.

There’s a girl next to the tree opposite Octavia.

She smiles and beckons.

Octavia isn’t falling for an obvious trap, she feels on the ground next to her and finds a good sized rock.

“Oh, float it,” the girl says and Octavia starts in confusion at the Arker swearing. “Finn, get your ass down here!”

Finn drops out of the tree. “So much for you being the friendlier face, huh?”

“Did Clarke send you to bring me back?” Octavia asks, not letting go of the stone.

“Well, yeah.” Finn shrugs. “Only we don’t want to. Let Clarke try to save everyone, me and Harper are with you.”

Octavia looks between him and the girl, who must be Harper, then grins. She can work with this.

 

Raven can’t get the Ark on the radio.

All she’s getting is a weird frequency. It’s too regular to be natural. Something’s blocking the signal sideways.

No, someone.

Mount Weather.

At this point Raven is very tempted to follow Jasper’s example and blow up as much of it as she can. Sadly that wouldn’t be very much.

She’s really not willing to tell Clarke in this mood of her failure.

Things had been going well.

Sure, they’d been about to march to war against a far better armed enemy, but she’d been communicating properly with Finn for what turns out to be the first time, she’d found other people to be part of their family, she’d been the Tekamin, the dangerous unpredictable magic user.

Now what is she?

Raven Reyes, the girl who stole an escape pod to help criminals.

All there is waiting for her on that Ark is a reunion with Sinclair and death.

What the hell is taking Finn so long? Octavia couldn’t even have had time to get to the fence before he went after her. Raven’s about to go looking for them when two people she very much doesn’t want to talk to and especially not at the same time enter the dropship.

Bellamy and Murphy.

Only neither of them is trying to kill the other.

That’s a first.

“Have you seen Octavia?” Bellamy asks, because his two emotional states are murder and Octavia.

“Yeah,” Raven says. “She’s small, dark hair …”

“Do you know where Octavia is?” Murphy clarifies before Bellamy can switch to murder.

“Isn’t she just outside?” Raven goes over and pushes the curtain aside, scanning the camp for Octavia or Finn. “What the hell? Like, she’s tiny, all Finn had to do to stop her charging Mount Weather on her own was pick her up and carry her.”

“Raven,” Bellamy says slowly. “Why would Octavia need to charge Mount Weather _alone_?”

“Oh you’re gonna love this one.”

 

“They’re children,” Kali says, talking over Clarke. “Alliance with children is a joke.”

“You were the one-” Indra starts.

“What was in the past is no longer true.” Anya raises a hand. “Perhaps Clarke is right and Skaikru will help. Perhaps Indra is right and we don’t need Skaikru, just the children. Perhaps Kali is right and Skaikru will kill us all. We need to let Skaikru talk for themselves.”

“I am Skaikru!” Clarke says angrily. “I speak for Skaikru!” She hasn’t missed that no one’s calling her Hainofi any more.

“You speak for the children of Skaikru,” Anya tells her. “Since Heda herself is so young I made the mistake of thinking you might have a fraction of her wisdom. You don’t. We’ll escort you back to Skaikru and open negotiations with your leaders, your Chancellor?”

Clarke nods to confirm the title and Anya takes it as acceptance of the entire thing.

“Prepare your people to leave,” Anya orders Clarke.

Clarke has to take it.

 

Finn leads Octavia and Harper to Lincoln’s cave.

He’d suggested an abandoned bunker first, but Octavia had vetoed that idea.

Too close to Mount Weather.

In, like, appearance, not physical location.

Though it is a little closer.

He hasn’t been back to the cave since before Lincoln got caught.

Hadn’t been any point when Lincoln was imprisoned and after that Finn had wanted to forget their entire friendship.

Lincoln had lied to him. Talked about peace and co-existence and alliances and then killed three people without hesitation. Finn feels like he should have seen it coming.

Why would the other Grounders take him prisoner if his only crime was wanting peace?

Why would Lincoln have weapons that weren’t suitable for hunting in his cave?

Why would he have so many bumpy scars that indicate kills?

Finn pulls up the metal bars and waits for Harper and then Octavia to drop into the darkness before following himself, bracing against the walls so he can gently guide the bars closed near silently. It takes him a moment to locate Harper in the half light. Somehow Octavia is easier to see. He gestures for Harper to take point, Octavia to follow her and brings up the rear himself.

Used to Harper’s near silence at his side on hunts or scouting, Finn startles at every noise Octavia makes, her footsteps sound like gunshots.

“I thought you said this Lincoln guy was long gone?” Octavia asks at normal speaking level.

Harper spins and clamps a hand over her mouth, then whispers in her ear.

Even less than two feet away, Finn can’t make out the words, but he can guess the content. Both he and Harper have learned the importance of silence the hard way, it’s a good habit, one they don’t want to break just because the cave is probably abandoned.

There’s a click from up ahead and a voice says, “Turn around slowly and I’m going to walk backwards with you following until it widens and I can see you all. I know you can’t get out before I shoot, so don’t try running.”

“Monty?!” Octavia asks.

“Octavia?!”

What the fuck?

 

Miller has never seen Clarke this furious and it’s frankly terrifying.

Somehow, he and Wells are the only members of her council that aren’t MIA. Raven’s radio isn’t working at all. Murphy and Bellamy are MIA too, Murphy having abandoned Losi in the process. Clarke’s announcement that they were all going to the Ark had been taken mostly positively, which is really not what Clarke wanted.

And Wells is making the suicidal mistake of arguing with her.

Miller drops automatically into parade rest, hoping neither of them call on him as the tiebreaker.

He should be so lucky.

They both glare at him, but he’s not sure which of them he agrees with.

Only thing Miller can do is tell them that. “Even with Raven and the Grounders we didn’t stand a chance against Mount Weather. I haven’t had time to look over Octavia’s intel, so I don’t know if that could have changed the odds. War was never the answer to this problem. But we can’t abandon Monty and Jasper. We can’t stop our people going home either. I say Octavia had the right idea, if not completely alone. Guerrilla warfare, a small group of fighters who know the terrain and understand Mount Weather’s weapons. The rest leave, go to the Ark. If the Arkers agree, great, they’ll have up to date intel for when they march. If the Arkers refuse, doesn’t matter, the fighters will know that’s their cue to strike. If we can wait that long.” Until he said that, Miller hadn’t known he was going to be one of them.

“Are you insane?” Wells asks. “You want to abandon the Hundred to go play soldiers in the woods? Clarke, don’t tell me you’re seriously considering it.”

Hainofi turns to Wells coldly. “Don’t give me orders, Wells Jaha. You are not required to _play soldiers_. I need someone to lead my people while I _play soldiers_. This time Murphy and Bellamy will not be around to cause problems. I trust you can manage not to replace them. Perhaps the thought you will have to face your father at the end of your journey will inspire you better than the thought you would have to face me did.”

Wells hunches over, ashamed, but unconvinced. He’ll follow orders without further complaint though. Clarke’s giving him the job he’s trained for his whole life. “So, who’s your team?” Wells asks. “Miller, Octavia, Bellamy, Murphy.”

“Raven, Finn, Harper,” Clarke finishes the list.

“Clarke, no, I can’t … the whole Council? I’ll have to start from the ground up, rebuild the entire structure. At least leave me Miller, Finn and Harper,” Wells says.

“You don’t have to start over,” Miller points out, unable to let that go unchallenged. “Jones can step into my place. Roma would be overjoyed to get a place at the suspiciously sticky table of power, no matter how empty the title. Jill’s the next best scout we have after Finn and she actually knows how to make a rota. Jackson would be a great addition, he’s only not been part of it already, because … well, you know how weird it gets. That’s just off the top of my head and I’m sure there’s people I haven’t noticed. We’re Clarke’s council, you’re going to need to make your own.”

Wells looks back and forth between them. “You’re serious. You’re going to … Clarke, if I didn’t trust you completely … Just … come back safe.” He hugs her tightly. “I’m … going to go organize packing, get what supplies you need now, because I’m leaving as little as possible behind.” He walks out of the dropship, head and shoulders held stiffly.

Clarke looks at Miller. “Let’s go find where our team has run off to.”

Miller sighs. “If it turns out they’ve all had the same idea and didn’t bother to wait for permission - I’ll pack a belt.”

 

“We’re lost,” Murphy says.

“Shut up, Murphy,” Raven says.

“No, but seriously, we’re lost. Bellamy, how did you do at Earth Skills again?” Murphy says.

“Shut up, Murphy,” Bellamy says.

“Just because you did better than Mrs. Spacewalker or me, who didn’t show up half the time and didn’t pay attention for the rest, doesn’t make that score anything but pitiful,” Murphy says.

“Shut up, Murphy,” Raven and Bellamy say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Losi is a character I was hesitant to include at all, since a good portion of her characterization is based in annoyance. I hope I've kept her in small enough doses. From my notes on the topic:   
> She's far too young and far too enthusiastic. She is sunshine and light and _relentless._ Indra calls her Woodpecker because of her endless questions and enthusiasm and because talking to her is like being the tree. Murphy has no idea what to do about his new fanclub. She has killed two people and isn't too impressed by Murphy's none. She tells him it's okay, there's still time, even if he's super old. Murphy's suffering is hilarious.
> 
> Turns out Indra has a habit of taking on 'problem' sekens. In this case, Losi's ten and entirely ready to go fight, tired of being held back and won't hear that she's about to hit puberty and basically have to relearn her entire physicality. She's done learning, she's genuinely good enough to go professional, but her body hasn't caught up with her ability. An older seken with half Losi's skill would be a gona already and Losi knows that and thinks it's very unfair. It is, but not the kind of unfair her sedas could do anything about. Indra tells her she thinks it's unfair too, that there's no test she needs to pass, Losi just has to occupy herself until a set time.
> 
> Losi's story ends one of two ways, either she survives until she can become a full gona or she sneaks into something that kills her. Indra is considered something of a last resort option. If she can't train them, they're untrainable. Thing is, she's not actually aiming to train, she's aiming to teach, and if what that seken needs to learn is that they'd be much happier doing literally anything else best to get that lesson done as soon as possible.
> 
> No, this has nothing to do with guilt over Gaia, why do you ask? Who's Gaia? Indra doesn't remember having a daughter. She's just a grumpy old gona with no patience for coddling children.
> 
> Most of her ex-sekens, regardless of if they were a 'success' or not, hate her.
> 
> Note I say most, not all. Murphy isn't an only child anymore.
> 
> Player: Octavia  
> Achievement Unlocked: Defector
> 
> Player: Finn  
> Achievement Unlocked: Defector
> 
> Player: Harper  
> Achievement Unlocked: Defector
> 
> Player: Raven  
> Achievement Unlocked: Defector
> 
> Player: Bellamy  
> Achievement Unlocked: Defector
> 
> Player: Murphy  
> Sorry, you have already unlocked the Defector achievement  
> Several times
> 
> Player: Clarke  
> Achievement Unlocked: Defector
> 
> Player: Miller  
> Achievement Unlocked: Defector
> 
> Wells: Guys? Is anyone still here?  
> Atom: Oh, hell no. I quit.
> 
> Player: Atom  
> Achievement Unlocked: Defector
> 
> Wells: You're not even on our team.
> 
> Wells: Guys?


	9. The Experiment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Trigedasleng for the first time! There is one other chapter which technically doesn't have a Trigedasleng title, but 'and' is the only word that isn't an actual human name. Good luck guessing who those names belong to though, I didn't see that team up coming until I wrote the last section of that chapter. (No, not Bellamy and Murphy, that's been in the works right from the start. Also, Clarke isn't one of the pair, her teaming up with everyone has always been the plan too. Also also, they're not even the names those characters go by most of the time ... Plus together they make a damn pun.)
> 
> In honor of bratting my way out of a care home yesterday and into listening to what my body is telling me about my limits in under a day, here's another update.
> 
> I finished a chapter when I was in there (since no internets) and I'd planned on uploading one when I left, regardless of when exactly that was, so it's going to be another two day set, hopefully. Unless I finish yet another chapter in that time ... or on the other hand I might slow the hell down, start taking the rest I need. Be interesting to find out.
> 
> Let's see how well Murphy does at bratting himself into letting other people take care of him ... oh hell, this isn't going to last, he needs to hit his limit before that's happening. (See 3 months in a lighthouse with nothing for company but a suicide note.)
> 
> I can't believe I predicted my own experience when I wrote this like a month ago ...

As if Octavia wasn’t enough of a miracle, Finn’s with her.

And some girl called Harper.

There’s lots of hugs in various combinations, far more questions and Finn being uncharacteristically quiet.

He won’t stop glancing over towards the Experiment.

The Experiment wouldn’t tell them a name, so Jasper and Monty just kept calling him that. He doesn’t seem to mind.

He doesn’t seem to mind a lot of things.

He’d led them to this cave, but refused to answer when they’d asked how he knew about it.

He’d refused to answer a lot of things too.

The Experiment can talk though, perfect English, he just doesn’t seem to want to much.

Luckily none of the others have their mission changed by the information Jasper and Monty are safe.

Quite the opposite.

That means Mount Weather needs to take people and soon.

“We’re going to need supplies,” Monty points out. “We’ve barely been able to feed ourselves.”

“Me and Finn can hunt,” Harper says, “But that won’t be enough for six.”

“So we raid the Delinquent camp,” Jasper suggests. “They’ve got the Outsid- Grounders to help them if we take too much. Besides if we went back, they’d be the ones feeding us anyway.”

There’s no argument.

No one much likes the suggestion.

“I’ll go,” Jasper says when there isn’t a rush of volunteers, “but I’ll need someone who knows the camp.”

“I’d be best,” Harper admits. “I don’t get seen.”

Monty grasps Jasper’s hand and tugs him down for a kiss. “Come back,” Monty tells him.

“Every time,” Jasper replies, it’s become something of a habit, their way of not having to say goodbye.

He’s never saying that to Monty ever again.

 

Something very very weird is going on.

Atom obviously isn’t important enough to get any sort of explanation. It’s just ‘hurrah, the Ark’s here, let’s abandon the place we’ve built from nothing and go back to the people who threw us in prison.’

Float that.

Atom’s not going anywhere.

And he’s going to make sure he’s not the only one.

He picks violent criminals, those without families and those with families they never want to see again. Anyone with a reason to see the Ark as the enemy.

It’s a surprise when Mbege approaches him, now Murphy’s all buddy buddy with Princess Clarke, Atom had assumed Mbege would be with her.

But then again with his new high society friends, Murphy hasn’t had time for his old pals, has he?

Or his old lovers.

Too busy flirting with Bellamy, who’s got even less time for anyone who makes him feel guilty.

Whatever. Atom doesn’t give a shit.

About either of them.

Mbege is a natural second in command. Got the muscle to back it up too.

Plus he brings the kids with the fireworks. The ones everyone knows were really responsible for the burning of the Grounder camp, but got away with it, because Finn Collins keeps his brain firmly in his dick.

There’s twelve of them in the end, but one of them’s the twelve year old, so she only really counts for half.

The abandoned, the hopeless, the unwanted, the dangerous.

These are Atom’s people.

This is Atom’s home.

 

Bellamy is going to kill Murphy.

He isn’t quite sure how, none of them had thought to bring weapons, but next time they reach a river Bellamy’s going to hold Murphy’s head under until he _stops floating talking_.

“- and you made me run out on Losi, do you have any idea how angry Indra is going to be when I get back? Like I’m talking apocalypse level explosion. Bystanders will be obliterated. I’ll be floated if I know what she’s going to do to me -”

Bellamy tunes out again. No one _made_ Murphy do shit, probably the whole problem honestly. Maybe if he gagged Murphy and broke his other arm so he couldn’t take it out …

“- if it wasn’t for Octavia, we’d never have felt the need to go anywhere. She should have just sat tight in Mount Weather until grrk!”

Until Bellamy pins Murphy to a tree by his neck apparently.

Raven makes no move to interfere.

“Murphy,” Bellamy says pleasantly. “I like hurting you. You know I like hurting you. You do not like me hurting you. I know you do not like me hurting you. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

“Some sort of sexual proposition?” Murphy asks.

Bellamy immediately shoves his leg forward between his legs, pressing hard against a sensitive part of Murphy’s anatomy. Murphy swears at him.

“If fucking you is what it takes for you to shut up, sure,” Bellamy tells him, calling Murphy’s bluff.

It’s definitely a bluff.

The fact that he can feel exactly how Murphy feels about the situation has nothing to do with anything.

Nor does the fact that Raven is watching them with something like a smug grin.

Murphy doesn’t say anything.

It’s a miracle.

“Now, be a good boy,” Bellamy tells him, smirking at the flash of anger, “and keep your mouth shut to give me space to figure out where we are and where we need to go to be where we want to be. Understood?” When Murphy opens his mouth to respond, Bellamy tuts. “Uh uh, try again. Do you understand?”

Glaring, Murphy nods.

Bellamy steps away and it takes Murphy a moment to collect himself and regain his footing without the support of the tree. There’s a moment when Murphy seems about to say something, but then he glances at Raven and doesn’t.

Raven grins at Bellamy without a word.

There’s no way Bellamy’s admitting she was right.

Ever.

About anything.

The silence is nice though.

 

Finn approaches Lincoln while Octavia and Monty chat.

He’s got more scars than Finn remembers.

He doesn’t know why he won’t look at him.

“Lincoln?” Finn says softly. “What happened? Where’s Tomos? Did he go to Podakru?”

“Maunon,” Lincoln grunts and it’s a word Finn’s heard before.

Mount Weather.

What floating else?

“Is Tomos …?” Finn asks, not quite able to finish the question.

Lincoln shrugs.

Finn runs a hand through his hair, trying to force down the guilt.

Clarke and Raven aren’t here to help with that and they're not going to be any time soon. He's walked out on them, All he’s got is Monty and Octavia and they’re not council. Maybe when Harper gets back … no, Finn can’t ask that of her, they’re partners. They work too well together to try and make it complicated.

Well, Finn knows he must have dealt with guilt before Clarke came along.

If he could just remember how exactly.

He needs out.

Just, walk away.

Octavia calls a question after him, probably where he’s going.

Finn mumbles something that might be ‘hunting’ and she seems to accept that.

Once Finn is actually outside, he still doesn’t know what to do.

But if he doesn’t go hunting, he’d have been lying.

 

Clarke is hallucinating.

The stress has finally broken her brain.

That or Jasper Jordan is rummaging through her storage tent.

Wearing a bloodstained labcoat over Grounder leather.

And an antique sword.

It’s a very _odd_ hallucination.

She must make some noise, because the hallucination spins, hand going to the sword.

“Clarke?” the hallucination splutters.

Hallucinations can’t hug you.

It’s Jasper.

“What?” Clarke asks eloquently. “How?”

Jasper shifts slightly, pulling the labcoat over the sword as if to hide it. “Cage Wallace let us go. Dante Wallace is dead. We couldn’t find our way back. At least not until -”

“Until me and Finn found them.” Harper fades out of the shadows. “We went after Octavia … okay, we went with Octavia. And – and if you want to stop us, you’ll have to call the guards!”

Clarke looks at her in confusion. “Stop you? I’m here for the same thing. In a few hours, the Grounders are going to evacuate this camp, by force if necessary, and I plan to be long gone by then. I’m here to take supplies, Miller’s keeping watch. We’re going – I mean we were going to rescue you and Monty – and Octavia, but she showed up earlier. Now I’m not sure what we’re doing.”

“We’re destroying Mount Weather,” Jasper says and there’s a new core to him. Something hard and sharp and brittle. Something bloodstained. “So no one else has to suffer. No more Tomoses or Experiments or – or Montys.”

“Monty isn’t dead?” Clarke takes a step towards him.

“No,” Jasper says. “But he’s not – not Monty any more, either. Hell, I’m not sure I’m Jasper. Octavia got out – me and Monty, we’re still in there and the only way to get out is to destroy it. Completely. Raze it to the ground and then we rebuild on the ashes.”

“What happened to Tomos?” Clarke asks next, she hadn’t missed his mention of him.

“He’s dead,” Jasper tells her, “died in the explosion or maybe after when the guards came to kill the unconscious. They dragged me right past his body. You can’t tell Monty. Let him believe Tomos got back to Podakru. Please. He needs that.”

Clarke nods. “I need a team to take down Mount Weather. Not an army and not magic. My council – no, I need a better word.”

“Kru?” Harper suggests.

“Yeah. I need a kru.”

 

Murphy and Bellamy have kidnapped Raven.

Wait, no.

That doesn’t make sense.

Bellamy has kidnapped Murphy and Raven.

For some reason.

Possibly as hostages to get Octavia back.

Well, Raven would work as a hostage.

And Bellamy has all sorts of reasons to take Murphy alive.

Finn balances about twenty foot above their heads and tries to work out what to do.

Bellamy isn’t visibly armed, but he could easily be concealing knives.

Or if Murphy had been lying about the gun being thrown away ...

Finn’s only chance is to take Bellamy by surprise from behind.

He presses his spear against Bellamy’s lower back, slightly to the side. If he shoves forward, he ruptures a kidney.

Fatal. Makes the meat inedible, but Finn wasn’t planning on eating him after.

“Hands up, slow,” Finn tells him.

Bellamy complies. “Finn, I don’t know what you think is going on-”

Finn presses just enough to break the skin and Bellamy stops answering questions Finn hasn’t asked yet.

“Finn, stand down!” Raven orders.

It’s pure instinct that makes him obey.

“Bellamy’s helping me and Murphy’s helping him – for some reason,” Raven tells him, “probably because he really wants to get laid.”

Murphy makes a noise of offence, but oddly doesn’t verbally defend himself.

Raven sets her chin defiantly. “And we’re helping Octavia, so you can tell Clarke to go float herself.”

“I’m not with Clarke,” Finn says confused. “I mean ... me and Harper defected to join Octavia. I didn’t think you’d ...”

“Oh, uh.” Raven looks to Bellamy and Murphy for help, then remembers why we don’t do that. “I just assumed you’d choose Clarke.”

“We’re lost,” Murphy says to Finn quietly, watching Bellamy warily. “Please can you help us.”

Okay, did Murphy get brain damaged on the journey?

If they’ve defected too it can’t be caused by fear of Clarke.

And it’s not Raven Murphy’s looking to for approval.

Bellamy reaches over and ruffles Murphy’s hair. “So someone did teach you manners at some point. You realize this is just going to make us less likely to put up with your rudeness?”

Murphy ducks away and fixes his hair, but adds nothing.

“There’s a cave - oh! Monty and Jasper are there!” Finn grins at the three stunned expressions. “It’s a long story.”

 

Once everyone’s finished explaining their version of events, Clarke just sighs.

She has no idea what to do with any of them.

Clarke glances helplessly at Miller, the only one to have stood by her, to have trusted her not to abandon any of her people.

He must be a mind reader, because he immediately asks her for a word in private. She can give him that in a way she couldn’t let any of them know she needed it.

They go all the way outside, the fresh air and open space already calming Clarke a little. Miller hugs her and when he pulls back he keeps his hands on either of her arms, rubbing slightly.

Clarke takes a few deep breaths. “What the hell do I do? I broke their trust. All of them. Even Jasper and Monty didn’t believe I’d help them. I should – I should be –”

“You take care of them,” Miller instructs her. “Each of them needs something from you right now and I’m damn sure that you taking punishment doesn’t meet any of those needs. Except maybe your own.”

“You’re right it’s selfish ...” Clarke starts.

Miller shakes her slightly. “No. You can’t do this if you’re tearing yourself apart over it, but I won’t lay a hand on you without a direct order.” He lets her go and sits down on a rock jutting out of the ground, bowing his head slightly.

When Raven had made the same offer it’d been a challenge. A demand. A questioning of Clarke’s suitability to lead.

This is just another offer of service.

Clarke sets the terms. All she has to do is choose them.

And tell him them without dying of humiliation.

But then again Miller isn’t going to think any less of her for taking it.

And he’d implied he thinks it’s a bad idea to tell the others.

Hainofi shies away from even considering it, but Clarke ... Clarke wants it.

The illusion of giving up control without actually having to do it.

“I accept,” Clarke tells Miller. “None of the others learn about this. You stop the moment I tell you to. You use your hand only.” She shrugs off her jacket and lays it down on the log next to him, she has no intention of removing anything else.

“Yes, sir,” Miller says obediently. He’s never been as obviously part of whatever they’re calling it this week, but that’s mainly because he’s the only one to never have earned punishment. Even Harper has come very close on enough occasions for it to be clear where she stands.

Now Clarke knows he’d take it.

Bending over Miller’s knee is one of the most difficult things she’s ever done and she’s counting the endless journey downriver under the fog. Once she’s there though, it’s suddenly easy to just let him support her. He waits for Clarke’s nod before hitting her.

Clarke squeaks more in surprise than anything else. She still hadn’t quite believed he’d actually do it.

Hainofi is furious. Demanding Clarke rise and punish this insult. Doesn’t Miller know he’s hers? He’s not even restraining her, there’s nothing to force her to submit.

Clarke ignores the feeling, focusing on how the weight of guilt lessens with each small spark of pain.

It occurs to her that this might be what Miller needs right now too.

The amount of guilt that thought removes is enough to make Hainofi the loudest voice in her head.

Clarke hasn’t got anywhere close to guiltless, but she’s functioning. That’s going to have to be good enough. The rest she can work through by helping the others.

She holds on as long as she can, but the moment she feels tears prickle at the corners of her eyes, Hainofi steps in. “Enough.” For a second Clarke isn’t sure Miller’s going to listen. He hadn’t even hesitated at Murphy or Bellamy’s demands or pleas for him to stop, but the moment he hears her, Miller laces his hands behind his backs.

Clarke pushes herself to her feet, assessing the damage.

There isn’t any. Not really. She doubts she’ll even have bruises. Just a superficial sting that sparks into a warning when she moves the wrong muscles. It’s good. It’ll reminder her why she needs to regain their trust.

Why she needs to give them what they need, which may not be what they want, right now.

Clarke still has no idea what that might be.

Knowing her luck it’ll be different for each and they won’t know either.

At least Miller ...

Clarke turns to him to ask his advice and finds him motionless, hands laced behind his back, head bowed, posture open and submissive. He’s waiting for punishment.

He doesn’t deserve it.

He doesn’t need it.

“Thank you, Miller,” Clarke tells him and he startles, looking up at her, before relaxing.

Clarke remains standing, not because of the soreness, but because she needs to have the higher position.

Miller smiles awkwardly at her. “I thought I’d gone too far,” he confesses.

“You barely touched me,” Clarke reassures him. “What’s important is everyone else. We’ve fractured and I’m the only one who can pull us back together. That doesn’t mean I know how.”

“They’re scared,” Murphy drawls, hauling himself out of the cave entrance, shrugging at their glares. “What? I don’t trust either of you, listening was easy. Hell, Clarke, trust you a little more knowing you’re willing to take it as well as dish it out. And I’m not a snitch. Pinkie promise.”

What really convinces Clarke she can trust Murphy is the fact he hasn’t taken off her collar. She nods acceptance of his presence. “So, they’re scared. What can I do about that? Beyond hypnotizing them all to forget about Mount Weather.”

Murphy grins. “Didn’t say I knew what to do neither. Just that I at least know what they need. You work out how to give it to them. Okay, I do know Bellamy’s, give him his damn collar back. Shouldn’t have taken it away in the first place.”

“He failed the day, I gave him the option to keep it on,” Clarke points out.

“Didn’t say put it on him. Just don’t make him come to you for it every time. That way he doesn’t have to admit anything to anyone, can just walk out wearing it in the morning. No need to justify it to himself. Or you.”

Clarke wants to argue that that was her intention, but she can tell Murphy knows that. “Miller?” she asks. “Did you bring it?” To her relief Miller nods, they can’t go back for a floating scrap of leather, even if one of her people apparently needs it as a comfort blanket. “Then that’s doable.” It’s not a problem solved, but it’s a problem with a known solution.

Murphy nods acceptance. “Octavia needs Bellamy’s support. He’s still on the idea that the two of them should just go. I vote for beating some common sense into him.”

“Overruled,” Clarke and Miller say at the same time.

There’s something odd in Murphy’s eyes as he shrugs apparently unconcerned. “Monty and Jasper need ... this is gonna sound harsh, they need to see other people. People who aren’t a mute murderer.”

“Yeah,” Miller says, "it’s gonna be tempting to pair them up, they’re a great team, but we need to get them integrated. Right now they’re allies, not – not kru.”

Murphy raises an eyebrow at the use of the word kru. “You know that was the original meaning? Before the Kyongedon rediscovered the joys of communal living and agriculture. Family groups, often not related, rarely more than fifteen or less than five. Pair of leaders, a Haiplana, usually female for some reason and her second in command, usually her lover.” He leers at the pair of them, who respond with matching glares. “Oh, Hainofi, that’s a funny one actually, it literally just means third in command. Usually the Haiplana’s seken, pupil, padawan. Then shit gets a little fuzzy after fourth.”

“Padawan?” Miller asks Clarke, who shrugs.

“Just don’t expect me to be the one to upgrade you to Queen, Princess,” Murphy drawls. “Finn needs punishing, by the way. Floated if I know what for, but the boy’s radiating guilt. Raven needs something to do, she’s feeling useless. Might be able to get both of them with something. Harper needs to know you still trust her, it’s not guilt, more like she needs reassuring she did the right thing. And she did, so you’ve got no right to punish her. Lincoln ... Lincoln needs taking round back, a quick merciful death and a shallow grave, but I know you’re still gonna try and fix him. Good luck, if anyone can do it, it’s you.”

“So, we give them assignments,” Miller say, “like, there’s stuff that needs doing, may as well manipulate the rota to solve the personal shit too, right?”

“Okay,” Clarke says, “We need more supplies, what we took will last - I’d have to check to know exactly, but not long, and that’s mainly food, we don’t have water, firewood, tech, intel on the surrounding terrain, blankets ...”

“And we’ll be here forever if you list everything we don’t have,” Murphy cuts over her. “You’ve got eleven bodies and you’ve got that damned list in your pretty little head. All you need to do is use the first to get the second. We don’t need to know the shopping list. We need to be told ‘go get firewood’ or ‘scout for the closest water source.’ And none of us are stupid, besides Bellamy of course, we know that if we see something else we can use, we should bring it along or mention it to someone.”

Clarke looks helplessly at him, how’s she supposed to do that? Every time she thinks of a job for someone, another job that’s just as important occurs and then she’s stuck arguing between them.

Miller comes to her rescue. “It’s going to be dark soon, no point sending anyone too far out until the morning. Have to split Monty and Jasper and preferably Bellamy and Octavia, definitely can’t have those two working alone together. Hopefully, Bellamy will put the collar on in the morning and that’ll force a confrontation in public where we can run damage control.” Suddenly, he grins. “Finn and Murphy on latrine digging, punishment duty for whatever Finn thinks he’s done and for Murphy’s eavesdropping.”

Murphy flips Miller the bird, then quickly takes a step back when Miller moves as if to stand.

Clarke nods, “Great. Keep going.”

“Harper with Octavia, and I guess Lincoln too, see what we’ve got of use that’s already in the cave. Shows you trust Harper, both with Octavia and our supplies and it means I can send Bellamy with, hm, Jasper and me to start a fire and get something cooking. It’s only a two person job, but I’m not leaving Bellamy unsupervised with someone who isn’t kru, no matter how much we want Jasper to be. That leaves - Monty, Clarke and Raven. Well, you three can stay in the cave, make a shopping list for specifics. You know, stuff like ‘we need protein so keep an eye out for birds nests’ rather than ‘we need food.’ If Raven can give us some idea what sort of tech we need, that’s going to be miles more practical than dismantling the dropship and bringing it here piece by piece. Monty’s got tech and food specializations, so he can mediate, stop it from becoming an argument about which is more important.”

Clarke stares at him. He’d taken what Murphy had said about their emotional needs and what Clarke had said about their practical needs and put the two together in a way that complimented everyone’s skills, besides Finn and Murphy, leaving himself as the only one who might think their assignment was just to keep them busy. No one’s been forced to be alone, even if that meant assigning someone to be punished with Finn and it’s not like Murphy can even argue he didn’t deserve it. There’s no chance Bellamy’s going to argue about Octavia staying safe inside the cave and Monty’s knowledge really does make him best placed to mediate while Jasper wouldn’t have much to offer that conversation.

Miller shrugs at her, looking slightly embarrassed. “Look, organizing a guard rota is a nightmare. Everyone needs to go in at least pairs and you have to keep track of the interpersonal conflicts just in case someone breaks up with someone else and suddenly you’ve got to throw out the rotas for the next week, because you’d been relying on them working as a team. Well, that or someone hooks up with someone else and you have the same damn issue, because if you stick them together they’re just going to spend their whole shift necking behind a tree. And you have to make the mistake to know if it’s even going to be a problem. And because we had twenty four hour guard rotation you have to make sure everyone gets a set amount of sleep and leisure time and that everyone gets to see daylight and compared with that, this is easy.”

Clarke’s estimation of Miller’s competence, already very high, raises another notch. She’d never even been aware of the rota except as a concept and she’d never noticed or had brought to her any problems with guard rotation. Her mother had often said that the Council only paid attention when something went wrong, Clarke hadn’t realized that would be because it’s near invisible when it goes right.

“It’s not like I could have done it from nothing,” Miller tells them, defensive in the face of Clarke’s awe. “I’d have put Monty and Jasper together, wouldn’t have thought of the shopping list idea and Murphy would be digging latrines with Bellamy.”

“Just take that one as a standard rule,” Murphy says, “keep Murphy and Bellamy apart at any cost.”

Clarke realizes something. “Murphy, you never said what you need.”

Murphy flinches and then shrugs. “Not much. Quite like my jacket back.” He raises an eyebrow at Miller. “Don’t imagine you bothered to grab that.”

Miller shakes his head apologetically. Space and weight had been limited, a spare jacket just hadn’t been affordable. Bellamy’s collar had fitted rolled up in his pocket.

“Eh,” Murphy shrugs again. “Maybe it’ll still be there when we can safely go back.” He stretches, yawning. “Well, it’s not getting earlier and I have a hole to dig and then push Bellamy into.” Murphy grins at them as he sets off looking for a suitable spot.

“Hey,” Clarke calls after him. “No going out of sight of at least one other person.”

“If you want the latrine within eyesight of the entrance, feel free to dig it yourself,” Murphy calls back, not stopping.

“I just mean wait for Finn!”

Murphy ignores her, but Miller is already lowering himself into the cave. “At least Finn can track where he went,” he says, just before his head drops out of sight.

Clarke looks after Murphy with a frown before following.

There’s no way he’s as unconcerned as he’s acting.

Not that she’s any the wiser as to what he needs.

 

Bellamy barely met Jasper, but he’d got a brief impression of a boy with fluffy curls, enthusiasm and goggles.

This is a man in a bloodstained labcoat.

He’s very aware that if he threatened Monty in any way Jasper wouldn’t hesitate to kill him.

It’s like looking at Bellamy’s reflection.

He’s not a fan of the feeling.

They work in silence, Miller not helping to break it, until Bellamy says, “Uh, Jasper, how ... how was Octavia? She won’t tell me.” He doesn’t look at Jasper, focusing on checking fallen sticks for dampness.

“Octavia was amazing,” Jasper tells him and Bellamy hears the open affection. “She got me through it. First – first day she showed up in this hideous dress, freaking mustard with shiny daffodils. Said she missed the flowers.” They finally look at each other, affection for Octavia bridging the gap. “She never gave up, not for a second, no matter how scared. Octavia is so, so brave. You should be proud of her.” Something hardens in Jasper’s expression, turning defiant. “Not trying to stick her in another damn cage.”

“I’m just trying to keep her safe,” Bellamy says.

“You’ll break her,” Jasper replies bluntly. “Forget safe, you need to be happy with free. Because she is. This isn’t the Ark, you can’t bury her, not until she’s dead. And if I have any say in it, that’s not going to be for a long time.”

Bellamy stares at Jasper, this bloodstained boy that had blown up a mountain and volunteered for torture to set Octavia free, that had remembered Octavia’s opinion on flowers, that had listened when Octavia told him what she needed, and starts to love him.

It’s easy to offer Jasper his hand. They clasp each others’ wrists, staring into each others’ eyes. “For Octavia’s freedom then,” Bellamy says, “even from me.”

Jasper grins, a memory of the boy he’d been. “Oh, my dude, especially from you.”

Miller clears his throat. “If you’re done with the paternalistic bullshit, right now Octavia would be best served by there being something warm to eat?”

Bellamy’s wrist burns where Jasper held it, he rubs it absently, unable to look at the blank skin.

He needs to start his tally.

 

Octavia is the one to find Lincoln’s diary.

She skips past the sketches only briefly wondering their identities and grins at the maps. “Hey, Harper, look at this!” Octavia says, holding up a map covering Trikru territory, Podakru is further south than it stretches, but it goes as far as the sea on the right and the Mountain on the left.

Harper takes it from her with a matching grin. “Well, this makes my and Finn’s job much easier.”

Octavia hesitates, but she thinks it’s the right thing to do to show interest in stuff like that. “Are you and Finn ... kissing? Like he wanted to kiss Clarke and that’s not happening, but you two ...?”

“Me and Finn?!” Harper splutters at her.

Octavia doesn’t understand why that would be absurd and just nods.

“No!” Harper says, then seems to realise Octavia’s confusion. “Raven and Clarke would destroy me, even if they’re not, uh, kissing him at the moment, they’ve got dibs. Me and Finn are partners. Like in a professional way. He’s a damn good tracker, climbs like a squirrel, willing to sit still for floating hours up a tree waiting for something to happen. I’m good at not being seen, can quickly identify edible stuff that’s not going to run away if I startle it and am willing to check every identical nut or berry or root I collect for rot or insects.

“So we work together. He keeps watch for me while I gather, something comes along and he either kills it or I hide until it’s gone. Means he’s doing something more than just lazing about while waiting for food to come to him and I can ignore the rest of the world while going to the food.

“He tried to encourage the same system with the other scouts, but they didn’t get why they should try and hunt food when their job was to scout and a gatherer would only slow them down. The hunters didn’t much appreciate the waiting method either, they’d rather group together to track a single animal miles in a random direction right past smaller prey and plants. It was a good day when four or five hunters brought in a boar between them. Our traps alone could match that consistently every day. You’d have thought the fact we’re both considered the best would clue them in ...”

Octavia laughs. “You have to teach me. Seriously, I only survived the last week because I found a fresh deer a panther had killed and was able to chase it off. The trees and bushes and whatever could’ve been full of food and I’d’ve starved.”

Harper nods. “Okay, I’ll ask Clarke if we can take you with us next trip.”

“Why do you need to ask Clarke?” Octavia asks.

“Because she’s the one who’ll know if there’s something more essential you should be doing,” Harper says, overly defensive. “You have the best recon we’ve got about the interior of and terrain around Mount Weather. If you’re wasted on food collection, I’d like to know before promising you anything.”

It sounds reasonable, but there’s something about Harper’s tone that put Octavia on edge. She’s been around a lot of people hiding something they think she won’t like recently. Now she’s around yet more.

This one keeps leading back to Clarke.

So that’s where Octavia will start looking.

 

Neither Clarke nor Miller had given a reason for assigning Finn the twin punishments of latrine digging and Murphy, but he doesn’t argue. It’s a bit of a relief that he doesn’t need to ask for it.

Then he might have to try and explain why he does.

And technically it’s something he’s already been punished for.

He finds Murphy leaning against a tree glaring at a suitable patch of ground. Finn offers him a shovel, which Murphy takes with an even deeper scowl.

“You could have waited for me,” Finn says, carefully not making it a question or reprimand.

Murphy still seems to take it as both. “And you could have trusted Raven enough to at least tell her before you and Harper floated off. Is it Harper or Octavia’s bed you want to get into this time? Gotta be Octavia, since Harper knows -”

Finn shoves Murphy hard into the tree, then turns his back to start digging. He doesn’t say anything. His motivations might not have been exactly that, but it’s true he wouldn’t turn down Octavia if she asked. All that’s changed on that front is he’s got no intention of trying to manipulate her into doing so.

Not deliberately.

But he hadn’t intended to start hiding things from Raven again either.

“Wow,” Murphy says, not making any move to help. “You’re a piece of work, Collins. Just remember that if Bellamy catches the pair of you, you’re going to wind up crucified.”

“I’m not going to touch Octavia,” Finn spits. “I’m not suicidal enough to mess with Bellamy, unlike some people.”

“Oh, but you wouldn’t complain if Octavia was the one doing the touching, huh?” Murphy walks over for the sole purpose of standing where Finn next wants to dig and leaning on his spade. “I mean I get it, she’s all pretty and new. She doesn’t know about your traps. Plus she isn’t covered in blood or dressed up as James Bond, so that’s a point in her favour over Monty or Jasper. It’d be so easy. When was the last time you got laid? Back before we- sorry I mean _you_ , got whipped? Everyone back at camp knew you belonged to Raven, even if she wasn’t making use of certain features. Surprised you didn’t find a Grounder ... except you did, didn’t you? Tell me the truth, were you and Lincoln really only friends?”

Finn stops digging, straightens up and looks at Murphy. “What the hell do you want? I’d say you were angling for punishment, but this is a punishment and even if you get on your knees and beg, no one’s beating you after – after this morning.” It can’t have been this morning, it feels like years have passed since then, but it was. “If you just want a way to burn some energy, you’d be digging instead of picking a fight. You don’t give a shit who I fuck or how or why, so it’s not actual friendly concern, you just want me angry with you. Why?”

Murphy stares at him. “I don’t – I don’t want you angry with me – I don’t think?” He shrugs and abruptly starts digging. Finn just watches him until Murphy slams the spade into the ground and glares back. “Miller took my jacket and left it back at camp,” he snaps, “and it’s stupid, because it’s a floating jacket, but it’s basically the only thing I own and I miss it and it’s too dangerous to go back for it and – it’s just a jacket, right, so why do I even care?”

“Picking a fight with me isn’t going to make it magically come back,” Finn points out, not really having the patience for this, “but, like, none of us have much, makes sense we get attached. Don’t tell the others, but I kinda named my spear, don’t know how I’d feel if I had to leave her behind. Pretty shit, I reckon, but trying to get me angry with you to punish you for feeling shit is floating dumb. So shut up and dig.” He turns back to the work.

After a moment Murphy joins him, silent up until he says in a rather more friendly teasing voice. “You named your spear? Like I’m really hoping you mean the one outside your underwear. ‘Cause leaving the other behind would be tricky ...”

Finn snorts in amusement and jokingly flirts back. “If you’re trying to hint you want my spear left in your behind ...”

They shove each other, then the conversation settles into neutral topics.

 

Octavia is hovering over Clarke’s shoulder.

On the face of it, she’s doing exactly what she’s been instructed to do, but somehow that involves never being more than two foot away from Clarke at all times.

Harper sighs and leads Octavia by her elbow further away. “Hey, if you want to listen to them, you need to be waaay more subtle.”

“They didn’t notice,” Octavia points out, not even trying to claim that wasn’t what she was doing.

“Learn to read lips,” Harper advises, “or how to listen without looking. Both is best. What are you even trying to find out that you don’t know already? I tuned that conversation out ages ago and I have a strict policy of always knowing everything of interest.”

Octavia frowns at her. “You can’t know everything.”

“That’s why I said of interest. You need to learn what to listen for as well. All that conversation tells you is that Raven and Clarke are still upset with each other, but aren’t willing to make a fuss and upset Monty. And Monty is oblivious to this. Doesn’t give you any whys.”

“Monty’s oblivious because he’s got bigger things to worry about!” Octavia jumps to his defense.

“I know,” Harper says, trying to calm her. “He’s not doing anything wrong. Monty’s been through a lot, so have you and Jasper, but ... you and Jasper, you think what happened to Monty was worse? You’ve both been kinda protective of him, even over really little stuff.”

“It was worse,” Octavia insists. “Neither of them will tell me details of what happened after I left ... but ... there’s a single bullet missing from Monty’s gun and they said Dante Wallace is dead. If he was the one that had to ... to kill Dante to save Jasper ... Monty hated him, but Dante treated him like family. And it’s pretty obvious Jasper had to kill way more to get them out, but they were strangers, he’s messed up over it, but he can deal. Monty can’t. I’m not sure destroying Mount Weather is what either of them need, but I won’t deny them it. They can start healing once they know it can’t happen to anyone else, but if their issues get them killed ... So yeah, I’m protective of Monty. He’s broken enough.”

Harper tilts her head at Octavia, analyzing this information. Neither Jasper or Monty had told Octavia anything, but she’d taken the facts and put them together to make a conclusion that makes perfect sense. Whatever she’s trying to get from Clarke, Harper’s pretty sure Octavia is going to get it.

What Harper needs to do is figure out what Octavia might find and mitigate the impact of that discovery.

Without making an already suspicious Octavia more suspicious.

Easy.

Right?

 

Jasper swings down into the cave and calls to everyone inside that food is ready. He dangles there for a long moment, his arms burning a little, until Clarke leads the others out. Pulling himself back out, he waits to offer her a hand up and then each of the others, maybe lingering a little longer on Monty and Octavia. Raven and Lincoln both refuse the assistance. He grins at all of them the same.

“Any volunteers to go get Finn and Murphy?” Clarke says to a general lack of said volunteers.

“I’m already up,” Jasper says, “I’ll go. You guys literally just sat down.” Some of them rather rapidly after Clarke’s request.

Miller gestures in the direction they had gone in and Jasper sets off. It’s not far, but still he keeps his hand on the hilt of Monty’s sword. The sky is fully dark now and things might have been drawn in by the fire and smell of cooking. Things that wouldn’t attack a large group at a fire or even a pair, but might happily go for an idiot who wandered off alone.

Jasper should have asked someone to go with him.

But it’s only a short distance.

Not like they’re going to go to the latrines in pairs every time just because it’s dark.

He’s there before the light of the fire has even visibly reduced in size between the trees. In fact he almost falls in the trench.

“You guys decide to take a floating nap out here? We have food,” Jasper calls quietly.

There’s no response.

Jasper sighs. “Fine, you dickheads want to play around, have fun. I’m leaving.” He turns to do exactly that, if the pair of them are horribly mutilated and dead they’ll still be like that in the morning. Simpler to deal with that then.

Someone drops from a tree to his right, while another emerges from behind a tree to his left. He’d been half expecting that so Jasper is able to hold back his instinctive responses.

At least partially.

The one on his left gets a swift kick to the groin, while Jasper’s sword finds itself at the throat of the right. “Cute,” Jasper tells Finn coldly while Murphy doubles over in pain behind him. He snaps his sword away with a noise that makes both of them flinch and starts walking back towards the fire. “I’ll tell them not to bother sending anyone else to come collect you. Lurk out here all night for all I care.”

He can practically hear them looking at each other sheepishly before following. It takes all Jasper’s willpower not to freak out about how badass he is. The shit eating grin is mostly under control by the time he gets back to the fire.

Still enough people notice, especially when Finn and Murphy skulk after him, both pouting.

Jasper just shrugs at the raised eyebrows, but Murphy complains, “Hey, Monty, did you know your boyfriend is an ass?”

“Yes,” Monty tells Murphy, completely deadpan. “That fact has not escaped my notice.”

Shoving him a little, Jasper sits down next to Monty and accepts the plate of food Monty has already got for him. “Mhm, I’m the ass? I’m not the one who thought messing around in the dark trying to scare people who carry bladed weapons was a good plan. You’re lucky I knew it was you or Finn would be missing a head.”

Instead of the laughter Jasper expected, there’s a grim silence, then Clarke sighs. “Can you two keep yourselves out of trouble for two minutes? I’d put you on punishment duty, but you were already there!”

“It was just a dumb joke,” Jasper says, not sure exactly what he’s defending them from. “I thought it was funny, but if you want I can kick Finn in the balls too, make it fair?”

That gets a few laughs at Murphy’s expense, as well as an inexplicable glare from Bellamy.

Even Murphy cracks a smile. He’s still moving a little stiffly and has decided to remain standing to eat. Jasper didn’t think he kicked him that hard. Especially if Murphy can already smile about it.

Clarke still hesitates, then glances at Miller for some reason and says, “Finn, whose idea was it?”

Given the way the question was directed at Finn, it’s clear who she suspects and Finn confirms it. Jasper isn’t sure why it matters.

“Raven, could you? No hurry,” Clarke says, faux casually.

Finn groans while Raven grins at him. Murphy smirks. Jasper is bemused.

“Don’t worry, Finn,” Murphy says, mock comforting. “You’ll never be able to beat your current top contender for worst idea.”

“Murphy,” Finn says, “you are a significant reason that was a terrible idea.”

“Yeah, but I never thought I wasn’t.”

Finn seems about to retort, but Bellamy cuts in. “Murphy, you’re also the only one who came out of that unhurt, so ...”

“What happened?” Octavia asks and Jasper wishes he could send her a mental message not to.

“Oh, it’s a great story,” Murphy starts.

Miller stands up and takes Murphy’s arm, pulling him slightly towards him. “How about we go clean up before anything is attracted to the food prep remains and let Clarke tell that story?”

It’s not subtle, but Miller’s warning doesn’t seem to work.

Murphy pulls his arm free and asks, “Did Lincoln tell you about how he escaped? Because he doesn’t know half the bullshit that went down that night.”

“Who’s Lincoln?” Monty asks.

It completely kills Murphy’s momentum. “Lincoln. Lincoln Lincoln? Lincoln of the very nice cave we’re staying in. Lincoln of the very few words.” He points at The Experiment. “Lincoln.”

“He never told us his name,” Jasper says. “We just call him The Experiment. He never told us to stop.”

There’s widespread confusion.

“That’s Lincoln? That Lincoln?” Clarke asks, twisting to look at him, a knife slipping out of her sleeve into her hand.

“Experiment?” Finn asks Jasper. “What ... what happened to him? Is he okay?”

“I thought it was odd you were all so chill with the murderous bastard,” Murphy says, “but then I remembered we have Bellamy with us.”

Bellamy rolls his eyes at Murphy and says, “And much like Bellamy, I’m sure he’s very sorry and won’t do it again. It’s not like he’s made any attempt to attack us.”

“He was in Mount Weather,” Monty says, utterly lost. “Cage experimented on Grounders ...”

“We were able to save him,” Jasper says, “and now you’re telling us he’s a murderer? So what? We’ve all killed to survive.”

That draws everyone’s attention to Jasper.

Lincoln still hasn’t spoken.

Murphy raises his hand. “Can’t speak for everyone ...” He coughs in a way that sounds suspiciously like ‘Bellamy.’ “... but I personally have never killed anyone.”

“Not for lack of trying,” Bellamy grumbles.

“Okay, everyone shut up!” Octavia yells and then into the silence that follows. “We’ve all been keeping stuff from each other ... well, except me, apparently, and right now I don’t much care if it’s deliberate or an accident. I just want answers. Who’s Lincoln and how is he here? Why is everyone afraid of Clarke? Who did Lincoln kill? What’s Bellamy’s deal with Murphy and Finn? What did Clarke and Miller sneak off to talk about?”

Jasper puts a hand on Octavia’s shoulder, relieved when she doesn’t shrug it off. “I’ve told you everything me and Monty know about him. He escaped the Mountain, like us, but not with us. Whatever Cage did to him nearly killed him, but Monty saved him. He brought us here and then you lot showed up.”

“I was a Reaper,” Lincoln says, confusing everybody even more. “A guard dog of Maun-de. We were how they brought back more people. We didn’t need radiation suits. When the explosion happened things were - I missed a dose of the drug Cage used to control us. I was enough myself to run before I went into withdrawal. That’s when Jasper and Monty found me.”

“Still playing the silent until you think you can trust someone game, huh?” Bellamy asks, not sounding angry, more amused. “I was imprisoned with him for a while, couple of weeks. Turned out Finn was his friend and tried to break him out – he teamed up with Murphy to do it, which of course means everything went to hell. Fire was involved.”

“Hey!” Murphy scowls. “The bit where you skewered some Grounder guard who was just doing her job didn’t help matters and it was Tomos who snitched on us.”

“You know Tomos too?” Octavia says, throwing her hands up. “Podakru Tomos. Tomos who somehow ended up in a cage in Mount Weather Tomos?”

“It makes sense,” Monty says, improbably. “If he was with Lincoln, which - I think Tomos mentioned that name - I just didn’t connect it to The Experi- I mean, sorry for calling you that, Lincoln. Uh, but if they ran away together and got caught - it’s a coincidence, but not impossible ...”

“Tomos was with us because he came with me and Finn from Podakru, so ...” Clarke points out.

“West seemed the safest option,” Lincoln adds. “I was wrong. We were separated.”

“Tomos is dead,” Jasper says abruptly, refusing to look at Monty. “I killed him in the explosion.” Monty shifts. “Figures I’d have the luck to save the only other person in the whole cursed place to know him too.”

“Not the only one,” Monty mutters. “He was kind to me when he had no reason to.”

“Yeah, and he forced Bellamy to kill someone!” Finn says, suddenly angry after keeping quiet. “Forced Lincoln to kill three others! Just because he was too scared to keep his mouth shut!”

“No one would have had to kill anyone if you had just kept out of Grounder business!” Raven snarls at Finn.

Miller groans and steps forward into the circle around the fire. “Let someone who wasn’t part of it tell it, okay? Finn decided to save Lincoln. Lincoln was imprisoned with Bellamy, who’d been put there for stealing Raven’s radio, which kinda killed two hundred people.”

“Two hundred and twenty,” Bellamy corrects bitterly.

Octavia stares at him in horror, Jasper can’t blame her, he’d thought he’d killed a lot.

Miller doesn’t acknowledge the interruption. “I’m not even going to try and explain what went on with Wells, Bellamy and Murphy, but it ended with Murphy and Bellamy wanting each other dead and Wells with a bullet in his leg.”

“And Murphy with a broken arm!” Murphy points at the bandages around his left arm.

Miller’s glare has Murphy backing up a step, almost tripping over the log Jasper’s sitting on.

“Finn decided that since Wells wouldn’t help him, the best option was to offer Murphy the opportunity to kill Bellamy in exchange for his help.”

There’s a very awkward silence.

“We’re mostly over it now?” Murphy says after a moment.

“You’d better be,” Miller tells him.

Both Bellamy and Murphy nod when Miller glares at each in turn.

“Then, because that wasn’t enough of a mess, Murphy set fire to the Grounder camp as a distraction, which was later blamed on Raven and Finn took the blame for her. Murphy failed miserably at killing Bellamy, Wells showed up to help Lincoln and Tomos escape, Finn got away, but Murphy and Bellamy were caught with four dead bodies. Like I said, Finn still ended up taking the fall for Raven, who had nothing to do with anything.”

Octavia frowns. “But Bellamy said Murphy got out?”

Murphy gestures at his arm again. “Came out unhurt. Turns out our dear Hainofi wasn’t willing to beat someone with a previous injury.” He smirks at everyone’s looks. “Oh, weren’t going to mention that, Miller? Gonna gloss over the part where Clarke made the three of us kneel in front of the entire floating hundred and -”

“Murphy, shut up,” Clarke says. “Look, stuff got weird. That was just the start of it. You three have done whatever it took to escape. I did whatever it took to keep my people from killing each other.”

“Call it what it is, Clarke,” Raven snaps. “They killed, you got into BDSM. On the scale of sins, I think they might have done worse. If Octavia can cope with Jasper walking around covered in blood, pretty sure she can cope with her brother willingly wearing a collar. Especially since it’s not even a sex thing.”

Bellamy hides his face in his hands.

Octavia stares at Raven and then suddenly bursts out laughing. “Okay, okay,” she says when she’s calmed a little. “I thought it was - well, I had no idea and that worried me. Since I’ve got to the Ground, I’ve been with Podakru who were lying to me about how they’d sold Clarke and Finn and then I was with Mount Weather who were lying to me about how they wanted to experiment on me to use my blood to keep them alive, so I came home and you’re all lying to me about something - it doesn’t kill anyone, no one’s forcing anyone to do anything – big fan. Not sure what it even is, but big fan.”

Raven opens her mouth to begin explaining, but Bellamy reaches over and covers her mouth with a hand. “I can’t be here when you give Octavia this talk, okay, just _no_ ,” he says firmly.

“It’s not a sex thing,” Raven repeats.

“Don’t care, not listening,” Bellamy tells her. “Someone else tell her about the tally thing too, I’m going to bed.” He stands and walks away to drop into the cave.

There’s a moment, then Clarke nudges Raven and nods in Finn’s direction.

“Ah, gonna have to give that talk in the morning,” Raven says, collecting Finn with a touch to his shoulder on the way past.

Murphy smirks. “If Bellamy argues about you using the cave, tell him there’s nowhere safe to hide, because I have no shame and will happily tell his sister every single detail while all he can do is watch helplessly.”

Miller clamps his hand down on Murphy’s upper right arm. “Would that no shame thing extend to a repeat demonstration of this morning?”

Murphy shakes his head quickly and allows Miller to escort him away, and if this thing can stop Finn and Murphy acting like asses Jasper is with Octavia on the Big Fan hypothesis. Which just leaves Monty to convince.

And only Clarke to do that convincing.

Wait, wasn’t Harper here earlier?

Jasper thinks back and he knows he helped her out of the cave, but can’t remember if she was there or not between then and now. Not like there’s anywhere she might have gone. Or any reason to leave.

Unless she saw the direction the conversation was going and wanted out of the awkwardness.

Cold. Abandoning Clarke to their mercies.

Impressive. Doing it without anyone noticing.

Guess that makes Jasper the closest thing Clarke has to an ally in this conversation. If only because he actually has a vague idea what Raven meant.

“So, what, they pull dumb shit they get punished? How’s that different from ... from life?” Jasper asks her.

Clarke looks at him gratefully. “It’s not always stuff I’d feel the need to punish anyone for?” she says. “Like the stupid joke they pulled on you earlier, wouldn’t be an issue if, say, Harper and Bellamy pulled it, but Finn and Murphy - Finn needs to learn to think before acting on his ideas and Murphy ...” She sighs heavily and Jasper can already relate. “Murphy just needs to never get away with anything ever, because every single time he does, he starts acting out until it goes far enough to cause actual problems. Each and every one of them has some different need, not all about punishment, and I have to try and fill all those needs with – with a couple of twigs and attempted mindreading.”

Jasper considers her and tries to think what he needs. Well, Monty, obviously, but he’s not going anywhere, not willingly. He could kind of do with a hug, but again, Monty isn’t going anywhere and that doesn’t seem to be part of this thing. The sword weighs on his hip, getting rid of that weight would be nice, but it’s not really the sword and the way to get rid of it is destroying Mount Weather, not being punished for what he’s done with it.

“What does Bellamy need?” Jasper asks Clarke quietly, ignoring Octavia’s stare. Monty doesn’t seem surprised by the question, which Jasper files away to consider later.

“Bellamy?” Clarke sounds surprised as well, but then her eyes flick down to Jasper’s labcoat and her tone softens to kind. “He, uh, serves people. Everyone actually. Not always, just when he’s got his collar on. It’s supposed to be a - kind of working towards being less dangerous. Putting others first. One day for every person he’s killed and today was the first day, he messed up before Octavia even arrived, that’s what Miller was referring to. He got in a fight with Murphy - Murphy started it deliberately - but Bellamy was supposed to get a tally mark, like a tattoo to remind him. I don’t have any ink here, going to have to make a scar or something - assuming he can ever do it with Murphy around ...”

“Or with me around,” Octavia says quietly. “It was me, right? Why he killed people.”

Clarke nods sadly. “But you can’t blame yourself, he made his choices and now he’s working on not making them again.”

Jasper abruptly makes a decision. He stands, draws their sword and offers it to Clarke hilt first. “I’m going to ask for this back when – when there’s a chance I’ll meet anyone from Mount Weather, but could you, uh, look after it the rest of the time? I’ll take something I can hunt with instead when I go out and I don’t need to be armed in the cave.” It’s definitely not a request for punishment or whatever Bellamy thinks he’s doing, but it’s removing that choice from his hands.

Not that he thinks he’s likely to try and kill any of the others or meet anyone out there he’s going to try and kill who doesn’t try to kill him first.

But on the other hand Jasper had held that sword to Finn’s throat.

He’d found it funny.

Clarke meets his eyes as she takes the sword. “Thank you, Jasper,” she tells him. “You understand I might refuse to return it?”

Jasper nods. “Kind of relying on that.”

Clarke smiles and Jasper forces himself to let go. Octavia is watching them with a little frown on her face.

Monty ... Monty is drawing Emerson’s gun. Jasper almost snatches the sword back from Clarke, not sure if it’s to fight Monty or with him, but Clarke has already pulled it out of reach.

Then Monty turns the gun to offer the grip to Clarke as well. “Please,” he asks her. Jasper’s already said everything for them both, even if he’d thought he was only talking for himself.

Clarke looks at the gun unhappily and Jasper remembers Miller’s mention of Wells having a bullet in his leg. Where had the gun even come from? Was it Murphy or Bellamy who shot it? Either way Jasper can understand her reluctance to have the thing where those two might get hold of it.

After a much longer hesitation, Clarke takes the gun, holding it like it’s something unpleasant.

It is.

Then again so is Dante’s sword.

Jasper wonders how many Emerson killed with the gun before he took it.

He wonders how many Jasper killed with the sword after he took it.

Bellamy knows an exact number.

Jasper isn’t sure which of them is luckier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even Clarke and me don't quite believe she let Miller ...
> 
> He's just a natural at protecting _his_ people from their leaders, with no desire to rule himself. He knows he wouldn't get it right every time, so he'd rather keep an eye on whoever is ruling and hope he can get it right enough to see their mistakes coming and help them fix them if he can't prevent them. Gets that from his dad. Brave enough to tell Pike to go float himself, willing to let Jasper mastermind. Brave enough to support Bellamy and Clarke torturing Lincoln, willing to let Blodreina give the orders. Not a favorite I knew I had.
> 
> You might have noticed that who Jasper thinks of the sword as belonging to gives some indication of who he feels is responsible for what it does and has done at that moment. Hanging at his side, comforting him with the knowledge it's there as an option, it's Monty's. In use, it's Jasper's. When he doesn't quite know, it's 'the' sword. When he hands it to Clarke, it's theirs. When he thinks of the past, it's Dante's.
> 
> The gun on the other hand is always Emerson's.
> 
> Clarke has formed Team: Fuck Up Mount Weather
> 
> Jasper joins Fuck Up Mount Weather
> 
> Clarke: ?
> 
> Monty joins Fuck Up Mount Weather
> 
> Clarke: ??
> 
> Lincoln joins Fuck Up Mount Weather
> 
> Clarke: ?????????


	10. Meizenouskai

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point I was a bit running out of chapter titles that fit the theme. Without any Grounders around Clarke's kru I had some trouble giving them nicknames. The last five, besides one, are in Wells' vicinity instead. I've dropped that theme for the sequel, chapters there are named after a phrase used in the text that has a very different meaning out of context. Personal favorites: Formal Uniform, Murphy's Choice and Clarke's Triumph.
> 
> Oh, translation! Amazing Blue Eyes. Little bit of a pun. The word for eye is ai and the word for blue is ouskai and there's only one ai used. Kath doesn't even have blue eyes, a translation that got the meaning across would be more like one whose eyes are beautiful because they have come from the sky and see things differently to mine.
> 
> Miller backstory! About all we have from canon is that he was a thief, his dad was a Guard living on Alpha Station, he had a boyfriend on Farm Station and a single line where Kane mentions arresting him multiple times.

The kid is crying again.

After Lisa had yelled at Charlotte to shut up and Lisa Ann had tried singing her a lullaby she’d been quiet for maybe an hour, but now the sobs are back.

Atom shoves himself up from one of the beds they’d dragged into the dropship before closing it so the Grounders couldn’t get in to take them away and goes to Charlotte. He has no idea how to deal with this, but no one else does either and he’s supposed to be the leader or something.

“Hey, kid,” Atom says crouching next to her. “What’s the fuss about? You decide you want to go home to your family after all? I don’t know if I can do that, not without getting the rest of us forced back, sorry.”

Charlotte shakes her head. “Don’t have a family,” she tells him quietly.

“Got something in common there,” Atom tells her. “You miss them?”

“Yeah,” she says, “but I’m crying because I’m scared.”

“What are you scared of?” Atom drops to sitting, wrapping his arms around one leg. “Lot of scary shit out there, much less in here.”

Charlotte smiles at the lame joke. “I know it’s just in my head, but …”

“Don’t make it not real,” Atom says firmly. “Worse even. Stuff out there, you can do shit about it. You can fight it. Can’t punch the stuff in your head. I mean you can try, but you’ll just get a headache, right?”

That actually gets a little giggle and she seems calm.

Atom smiles back at her. “Wish I knew what to do about the monsters in my head. You just have to let them be. They don’t mean no harm. Not like the real monsters, those you gotta tame before they tame you, but the ones in your head, they’re trying to warn you ‘bout the real ones.”

“It’s Chancellor Jaha,” Charlotte confesses. “He’s just watching when – when my parents –“

“Got floated?” Atom finishes for her when she can’t. “Yeah, that bastard’s a real monster alright. No shame in being scared of him. Hell, most of us in here are hiding from him. We’re here – together – telling him to float himself. But all letting that fear stop us would do is give him power over us and he don’t deserve it. He hasn’t earned it. So get some sleep, kid, fight your monsters in the morning, when they’re punchable.” 

He starts to stand, but Charlotte’s hand shoots out and grabs his jacket.

Well, okay, Murphy’s jacket that he found in Miller’s tent and decided suited him better, but Atom’s jacket now.

“Can you stay?” Charlotte asks, with an expression that says she knows he’ll refuse.

Atom glances round at the rest of the group, but he hasn’t got shit to prove to them. Either they’re with him or they’re going back to the Ark. “Yeah, sure,” Atom says.

Charlotte doesn’t complain about the spikes on the jacket, even though they’re pressing right into her back.

Atom puts the jacket aside anyway.

 

Wells is half grateful for the morons in the dropship. It convinces the Grounders to at least stay overnight. He doesn’t sleep, hoping at any second Clarke and whichever of her morons she’s been able to save will come through the gates to join them.

She doesn’t.

When dawn breaks, Wells leaves a box Indra helped him fill in the supply/council tent with a note for Clarke on the lid. The dropship doesn’t open either.

They’re leaving nineteen deserters. Twenty if he counts Octavia.

Along with the dead, Glen and Mark in the crash, Trina and Pascal never seen after the fog, Dax killed in self defence by Bellamy, plus Jasper and Monty, not counting Raven and Jackson who came later or Bellamy who stowed away, that’s a full quarter not coming home.

That Wells will have to stand in front of the Chancellor, his father, and justify the choices he’s made that mean they aren’t.

Perhaps Clarke’s desertion is more understandable in the face of that.

But that isn’t fair. Wells knows Clarke isn’t a coward, there’s more danger in staying than going. It’s Wells that isn’t brave enough to join her not vice versa.

Still he wants to be with her like he’s leaving a vital organ instead of a note that can never say everything he needs it to, but Clarke gave Wells a job to do and her people need him.

Her people need her too.

Only she’d left.

And now she’s left them again.

Most of them had accepted Clarke as leader only because Wells had openly supported her and Bellamy hadn’t been around to contest it.

These aren’t Clarke’s people, she’s taken those.

These are Wells’ people.

Just because he’s one of Clarke’s people doesn’t make that less the case.

So these people don’t need Clarke, though Wells does and neither Clarke or Wells can leave their other people that need them. Even if that means Wells is forced to leave Clarke.

It had worked when their peoples were mixed together, just about, but even then Clarke’s people had been separate, an elite. Resented by most for perceived special treatment.

Clarke had told Wells to make a Council of his own.

He won’t.

Let the people do it. See who steps forward to present their grievances, who speaks for which factions and those are the ones he has to listen to. Doesn’t matter if Wells thinks they’re the best for the job or they have some special skill that marks them out … or if they’re his childhood friend.

When they march out, Wells limps along at the front of the seventy six, refusing the horse the Grounders offer.

He’s not Clarke.

He can’t be.

So Wells isn’t going to try.

 

The guards come for Maya apologetically.

She questions them, pretends ignorance, begs for an explanation. What did she do?

They don’t tell her. Maya thinks they might not have been told either.

She doesn’t fight or try to run.

She’s not stupid.

Cage Wallace sits in his father’s chair. Maya wonders where Dante’s body had been. Where it is now.

Which of her boys had killed him.

How.

Why.

Maya pulls her arm free from Lee’s loose grasp. He’s a good man. He shouldn’t have to do this.

She walks the rest of the way on her own, standing without assistance in front of the President’s desk.

Dante’s desk.

Cage will never make it anything else.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” Maya says, no trace of fear or guilt in her posture. Just anger.

How dare he?

Cage has no right to rule here. She will not give it to him.

Dante had at least cared for his people. If nothing and no one else.

Cage smiles at her, he’s even worse at it than Dante had been. “Miss Vie, I was wondering if you could explain this?” He slides her music player across the desk, the tape with her name in block capitals screaming an accusation.

Maya’s heart jumps into her mouth … but … that’s all he’s got?

“It’s a music player, sir, you plug headphones in and it, well, plays music, hence the name,” she tells him, letting her confusion show.

Cage slams his fist onto the desk making Maya flinch back, but she quickly regains her composure. He carefully uncurls his hand, forcing a smile again. “Don’t play stupid with me, girl. I know what it is and I know it belongs to you. What I want to know is why it was found in the pocket of Monty Wallace’s jacket.”

_Green_ , Maya corrects him in her head. _Monty’s surname is Green._

“I don’t know, sir,” Maya says out loud. “It went missing shortly after I – um, broke up with Jasper. I thought maybe he had taken it, but since I couldn’t prove it … I should have reported it, sir, but I didn’t want to make him angry. I’m sorry.”

Cage doesn’t believe her. He knows she was part of this.

Of course that’s different from proving it.

And the guards aren’t going to let him do shit to her without that.

He might have the power, but Maya’s got the people.

Stalemate.

Even if he listened to Jasper’s message to Monty, there’s nothing in it to incriminate her, they’d thought of that.

Cage’s smile becomes even more unbelievable, more of a grimace. He stands, picks up the music player and walks around the desk to offer it to her. “Then, I’m very sorry for how impolite this was, Miss Vie. You understand the concerns I have after how many we lost to the Outsiders.”

_And how many more Outsiders have they lost to us?_ Maya thinks as she takes the music player with a quiet thank you.

He doesn’t let go immediately, keeping hold as he says, “We need more observant, brave, loyal people like you, Maya.”

He’s still playing. There’s only their kings on the board and Cage is still playing.

Maya ducks her head, pretending embarrassment and thinking quickly, what else could he have to play with? It’s mixing metaphors, but if the music player was his opening, he can’t have any other cards up his sleeve that are going to catch her out. If he’s got unarguable proof, he’d have led with that.

Which means he’s got something else.

Cage claps his hands and Lieutenant Emerson drags someone in through the door.

Maya’s father.

“I did it,” Maya says immediately. “I helped them escape. All three. I can give you details, tell you exactly how, just don’t hurt him.”

She can feel the shock from the other guards and Lee starts to say something before cut off by Emerson’s raised hand.

“Maya, no-” her father says, but she isn’t listening to him.

Cage puts a hand on Maya’s shoulder, gripping hard enough she can’t just wiggle free. “Thank you for being honest with me, Maya,” he says, smile much more natural and cruel now, “but I can’t just let you get away without punishment. That wouldn’t be fair. You understand, don’t you?”

Maya understands.

She understands her only option is to stand and watch as Emerson puts a gun to her father’s head and pulls the trigger.

She understands when Cage tells her that after Monty’s betrayal he needs to choose his next heir from the population of Mount Weather.

She understands when Lee stares at her in horror and the whispers follow her wherever she goes.

Cage took the people from her.

But he doesn’t get to keep them either.

Cage thinks he’s won.

But they’re not playing chess.

And Cage is using Dante’s playbook.

Maya has no intention of surrendering.

Vie. Not Wallace.

Never Wallace.

 

Harper drifts away from the campfire, vaguely in the direction of the latrines, then once outside the direct light, circles round it. It’s embarrassingly easy to clamp her hand over Losi’s mouth before she can make a noise and carry the kicking girl further out of earshot.

“Hey, Losi,” Harper says quietly. “I’m Harper, from the camp. Remember, the one who introduced you to Charlotte? My friends like making things messy, so I’d like to talk to you alone before getting them involved, okay? No need to scream.”

Losi nods and Harper lets her go. Sure enough Losi’s curiosity overcomes her fear. “What’s going on? Seda told Kikabug to look after me and he just runs off. I didn’t want to get him in trouble, but he hasn’t been alone to talk to and it’s been forever!”

Harper smiles, even knowing Losi can’t see it. “Well, Hainofi has made a very naughty choice and we’re all going with her, because we’re terrible influences. Especially Kikabug. Really the best thing to do would be run back to your seda before she finds us and we all get in trouble.”

“I’m not a baby,” Losi informs her. “I know it’s because you want to kill Maun-de and Indra was outvoted when they had to decide if we could stay to help. And I want to help! I’ve been in battle before,” she says proudly, “I’ve got two kills. None of the others my age have more than one. Kikabug doesn’t even have any!”

There’s a part of Harper that wants to let her stay, it’s not like any of them would have found out their abilities if they’d stayed safe at home, but there’s no chance of persuading any of the others of that. “This isn’t a battle, Losi,” Harper says, “not like you’re used to, like you’ve been trained for. This is a suicide mission. Not all of us are coming back, if any. And every one of us that falls will make those left fight harder. There’s no one left to save. Indra’s people are evacuating, we have a solution to the Reapers, Monty and Jasper and Octavia are with us. All there is in that Mountain is death. Theirs or ours, we don’t much care. I don’t want to die, but I’m not leaving the others to die alone. Please, don’t put your death on us too. On Indra and Murphy.”

Losi is very quiet for what feels like an eternity, then, “I want to go home.”

Harper suddenly realises she doesn’t actually know how to make that happen. She offers Losi her hand. “Okay, let’s go ask Clarke and Kikabug about that.”

“Hainofi,” Losi corrects her seriously. “You’re s’posed to call her Hainofi.”

“Hainofi,” Harper repeats obediently.

Jasper and Monty are just rising to go when Harper steps back into the light of the fire, leading Losi.

“Shit,” Jasper says. “Where’d you find a kid?”

“Following Murphy,” Harper explains, deliberately unhelpfully.

“I don’t remember them coming this small on the dropship,” Jasper says jokingly and drops to a crouch to be more on Losi’s level. “Now, tell me small invader, are you here to kill Murphy in his sleep, because I know a few people who’d be willing to hold him down?”

Losi giggles and Harper lets go of her hand to go explain the situation to Clarke, half listening to Jasper at the same time.

“I’m here to rescue him!” Losi tells Jasper, one hand on her small sharp sword. “I thought you’d all taken him prisoner.”

Harper notices Jasper noticing the sword and there’s a flicker in his eyes she doesn’t like.

Jasper recovers quickly, grinning. “Oh, and who’s to say we haven’t?”

“Because he’s very stupid and likes fights and he’s gonna go fight Maun-de,” Losi informs him.

Both Jasper and Monty laugh at that. “And you’re the big brave hero who’s going to throw him over her shoulder and carry him away so he doesn’t get himself killed?” Jasper asks, wobbling and deciding just to sit down on a log.

Losi nods. “Only I don’t think Hainofi’s gonna let me and she’s scarier than seda.”

Jasper frowns a little at the unfamiliar Grounder words. “Seda sent you to get Murphy? That’s a big responsibility.”

“Noooo,” Losi admits, “but she told Murphy to look after me and then he ran away, so, so I’m just doing what she said by being where he is.”

It’s excellent rules lawyering by Harper’s standards. It doesn’t count if you break the spirit of the rule, just the exact wording. She gives Clarke a pleading ‘can’t we keep her’ expression.

Tragically, Clarke is a heartless bitch.

“And Clarke’s Hainofi, right?” Monty clarifies.

“Princess,” Losi translates for them and Octavia is the only one who snorts.

“Someone’s going to have to go back with her,” Clarke says firmly, “and … none of us know the way.”

“I know it,” Losi says.

Clarke ignores her. “And whoever we send will be out of the fight for a long time, maybe the whole fight – Murphy. We send her back with Murphy.”

“Murphy’s kind of a shit fighter,” Harper points out. “Are you sure he can protect her?” She leaves out the part where Losi is perfectly capable of protecting herself, Clarke’s already dismissed her as a minor nuisance, but they can’t send Murphy away.

Clarke groans. “But I need all my good fighters here. Even Bellamy. Octavia – no, you won’t go and Bellamy wouldn’t accept the separation. Miller, Finn, Raven, Harper, Jasper, Monty, all essential. I can’t go myself. So, Murphy.”

“I’ll go,” Lincoln says heavily.

Harper almost punches him for leaving it so long. Obviously he’s the only choice, but Clarke won’t even consider him as an option.

Just because he isn’t hers.

Which is why he’s the only choice.

“He does know the area,” Harper points out, “and we know he can defend her.”

Losi nods agreement. “Sha, I know Lincoln, he was friends with our fisa before he ran away. Indra says Lincoln is branwoda, but good.”

Clarke looks at Lincoln suspiciously, but he’s done nothing to make Clarke think he might kill a child. He’d tried to protect Tomos after all. Even after Tomos had sold him out.

And it has the bonus effect of making Lincoln not Clarke’s problem any longer.

Harper carefully doesn’t remind her about the way Indra’s people want Lincoln dead.

That’s Lincoln’s problem, not theirs.

 

Kath sits down to shake the stones out of her shoes when there’s a pause in the march.

One of her blisters has burst and is bleeding sluggishly through her sock. Well, the thread frame that is more net than sock in the places her shoes rub. She peels the sock off, wincing. She’s got nothing to wrap it in, but she splashes some water from her canteen over it in the hope that’s good enough to avoid infection.

The doctor, the one who left the Ark to help a bunch of criminals, crouches down next to her and takes her foot without asking. Kath doesn’t mind, he’s kinda cute and probably knows what he’s doing.

The thin bandage he uses is lined with some sort of red wormy things, but at least they’re not moving.

“Hey, Jackson,” someone says, “let me do that, see if there’s anything that needs a specialist.”

The doctor pats Kath’s leg and hurries off, already rummaging in his bag for something.

Wells Jaha takes his place.

The son of the man who helped murder her mother. There’s a certain resignation in his eyes at her immediate hatred though, so she doesn’t force him away.

Wells wraps the bandage tight, making her wince and ties it neatly, slipping the knot into the dent between pressed together toes. It shouldn’t make her shoes fit any tighter than they had with her socks on.

“Thanks,” Kath says quietly. She’s not sure what he wants from her.

“Try swapping your socks over, they’ll be a little less worn on the opposite sides,” Wells advises her.

Kath suddenly remembers Jackson wasn’t the only one to volunteer to come to the Ground to help them. Wells had come for Clarke, but she isn’t marching with them.

“You’re not your father,” Kath says abruptly, doesn’t know if he wants to hear her, doesn’t care, she needs to say it to convince herself. “Lot of us have been having trouble with that one. When we get home, don’t you floating dare start acting like him again. Try it and I’ll kill you myself, just like I killed the bureaucrat who let my ma die because she needed too much medicine. All sorts of nasty chemicals on the Ark. I burned a hole in his throat.”

Wells doesn’t flinch away, unlike most when she tells them why she ended up in the Skybox. “Your crimes will be forgiven. Whoever you’re coming home for, I hope they’re alive. I’m not going home for my father, I’m coming because I can’t let any of you do it alone.” He half smiles. “I’d appreciate you warning me first, laxative in my morning coffee or something, before you go right for the throat burning. And, really, try the sock thing.”

Kath watches him as he walks away. She hopes she doesn’t have to kill him. He seems nice.

The sock thing helps.

 

Atom finds a box of weapons in a supply tent.

There’s some shit written on the top, Wells had intended these for Clarke. They’re Atom’s now.

It’s all Grounder weapons, swords and axes and clubs and bows, but it’s a damn sight better than the scrap metal shivs they’ve been using up until now. Atom takes a heavy axe for himself, there’s no mistaking it for a tool and the smallest lightest sword he can find for Charlotte.

She grins when he gives it to her and waves it about, pretending to fight. “It’s so thin!” Charlotte says, eyes bright. “Like a knitting needle.”

“That what you gonna call it?” Atom asks, grinning at her enthusiasm. “Swords are s’posed to have names I reckon.”

Charlotte shakes her head immediately. “Monsterkiller,” she says with certainty.

It’s a bit of a mouthful and Atom can’t imagine no one singing heroic songs about it, but they ain’t here for heroic songs. They’re here to tell the monsters to fuck off.

That name sure as hell does that, if nothing else.

Good enough for him.

 

Finn leans back against the tree and listens to the sounds around him. There’s a light breeze, none of the bird calls are alarmed and Octavia and Harper are chatting quietly below.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t help them?” Bellamy asks for the third time, breaking Finn’s awareness.

“We are helping them,” Finn explains again. “We make sure nothing comes and attacks them.”

“That doesn’t seem like much of a risk and I don’t like lazing around up here while they’re actually working,” Bellamy says, shifting and shaking the entire tree.

“Okay,” Finn puts his hands up as well as he can while keeping hold of his spear. “You join them down there and I’ll keep doing my job. Harper’s not complaining.”

Bellamy glares at him, then tries to figure out how to get down with a spear in one hand. Finn rolls his eyes. Eventually, Bellamy just drops the weapon, then follows it down about as gracefully. Octavia greets him loudly and pulls him off to see some new plant she’s just learned about.

Harper glances up at Finn and they share a sympathetic look.

Sure Finn had felt a little guilty about it when they’d first started working together, but after a few close calls, they’d agreed it was safest. Besides it’s not like Finn isn’t contributing to the food supply from up here, even if his main task is lookout.

He’s been eyeing a bird’s nest a few trees over, but hadn’t wanted to leave Bellamy wobbling in the branches alone long enough to investigate.

“See, these ones are poisonous, but these ones are edible,” Octavia is telling Bellamy, holding two near identical mushrooms, “or, wait, maybe it’s the other way around.”

Harper heads over to advise and Finn hooks a branch from the tree with the bird’s nest to pull it close enough to move over. The first branch he catches breaks free and he automatically follows its path down to see where it lands.

There’s a boar.

Snuffling through the undergrowth, probably weighs more than Harper and Octavia put together. With his spear caught on the tree, Finn can only give the appropriate warning call and hope Octavia and Bellamy are smart enough to follow Harper’s lead.

He watches as Harper freezes, quietly telling Octavia and Bellamy to do the same. Octavia and Harper are nearly perfectly immobile when the boar enters the clearing, but Bellamy hoists his spear.

Harper’s hand shoots out to stop him and she quickly shakes her head at him. Bellamy obviously wants to argue. Hell, Finn wants to argue, but then he notices what Harper already has. The boar has piglets.

Both Finn and Harper silently beg Bellamy to stay still and quiet and not murdery. If Bellamy hadn’t been quite as committed to getting through his sixth tally day, Finn doesn’t reckon he’d have made it until the sow and her babies have all passed them by.

“What the hell?!” Bellamy asks the moment Harper gives the all clear. “I had a shot at it! We need meat!”

Finn makes the move to the bird’s nest tree, pulling himself up to look over its rim. “She had babies,” he tells Bellamy.

“So?” Bellamy stabs his spear into the ground and glares.

“So you kill her, her babies die now and next year we can’t kill her babies,” Harper says, icily. “Besides, you don’t want to get into a fight with a mother.”

“I’m not planning to be here next year,” Bellamy retorts, but he’s got nothing for the second part.

“You can kill the next thing that shows up,” Finn promises, slipping two of the five eggs into his pocket.

Naturally, that’s Murphy’s cue to arrive with a scowl and the slightly garbled message, “So, you bastards took ages to find, I call bullshit on you leaving arrows and whatever, so Clarke will definitely be pissed when you show up, but you’re supposed to come back to the cave like an hour ago.”

Bellamy grins and pulls his spear out of the ground, advancing on Murphy who backs away quickly.

“No,” Harper tells him.

“But Finn said I could,” Bellamy points out innocently.

“You should listen to Harper,” Finn says, dropping the last few feet to startle Murphy for the hell of it. “I have a reputation of telling people to do stupid things.”

Octavia dumps one bag of collected food into Bellamy’s arms and then the other into Murphy’s. “Hm,” she says, brushing her hands and grinning at the pair. “Yeah, definitely still think I’m a big fan of Clarke’s methods.”

Finn pats Bellamy consolingly on the shoulder and takes his spear. “That’ll just get in the way.”

“You could at least go two to a bag!” Murphy calls after them, struggling to keep the bag upright and not spill dubiously edible mushrooms everywhere.

Bellamy groans and makes a good effort at a head start so he’s not stuck walking besides Murphy the whole way back.

“I see you didn’t get to kill anything,” Murphy says.

Finn isn’t sure if he should stay and listen or get out of the way.

What the hell?

Listening is more fun.

 

Raven glares at the sketches she’s made of possible things she can make with what she remembers of the dropship.

This isn’t her specialty. She’s not a damn engineer. She builds the things.

But right now she’s too valuable to be useful.

Clarke, Murphy, Jasper and Monty headed back to camp to see what the situation is there. Apparently Harper had offered Octavia a lesson in food gathering and Finn and Bellamy had tagged along. Lincoln had finally taken Losi, she’d stuck around for four floating days after they figured out she had to leave. She’d wanted to know everything – many more questions than Raven had the patience for.

Which leaves Raven to sit in the cave and stay out of trouble.

With a damn babysitter.

Miller sits down opposite Raven and offers her some sort of thick starchy root. She shakes her head and he shrugs and eats it himself.

“Damn, I feel useless,” Miller says, abruptly. “Clarke could easily have left Murphy and then at least I’d be babysitting, but apparently his knowledge of the Grounder camp is essential to something or other. It’s not even there any more, how would knowing the layout of a third of it be useful?!”

Raven stares at him. She hasn’t talked to him one on one since – since the night Murphy, Bellamy and Finn caused absolute chaos and she’d tried to talk her way past him to get Finn out of trouble.

She’d half forgotten she likes Miller’s company.

“Probably about as useful as never having been there,” Raven says. “Starting to feel like Clarke doesn’t trust either of us alone with the problem kids.”

Miller snorts. “More than half of us are problem kids – no, scratch that, we’re definitely all problem kids.”

Raven leans over and shoves him lightly. “You know what I mean, the ones from Mount Weather and Murphy and Bellamy.”

“Don’t,” Miller says dramatically. “Don’t even mention those two names to me. I could manage either of them alone, but the moment they’re together ...”

“They bring out the worst in Finn too,” Raven commiserates. “Well, especially Murphy. Finn’s too scared of Bellamy to cause real trouble with him.”

“Murphy brings out the worst in us all,” Miller mutters. “Not that I’m saying we should send him back to the Grounders with enough food to get him there but not back, but – I’m saying we should do that.”

“Huh, that’s something we could do,” Raven says, grinning when Miller raises his eyebrows at her. “Not the exiling Murphy thing, he’d just come back complaining we didn’t give him enough food. But we could put together ration portions. There’s not much here, but it’d give us some idea exactly how much.”

“It’s the sort of boring job where I want to say wait and get our two worst headaches to do, but Bellamy automatically splits things leaving a slightly larger half for Octavia and I just don’t trust Murphy not to end up putting more in his pockets and mouth than in the portions.”

Raven shakes her head. “How’d we become the responsible adults? I’m pretty sure I remember a zero-grav mechanic who happily helped herself to extra rations whenever she could.”

“Yeah, I was a thief too. Course I didn’t actually need to be, it was more of a rebelling against my dad thing. Kept getting caught and getting away with it, just because of who my dad knew. Right up until I had the bright idea to try and steal from the Vice Chancellor ... for the third time. Didn’t get caught, but Kane sure as hell knew who did it. Got arrested both the first times, but it wasn’t until the third I was actually caught with anything.

“They were always going on about Clarke and Wells being privileged, but I have no idea what your life was like. Wasn’t royalty, but I had it better than most. Didn’t even realize until I wound up in the Skybox and everyone else had the same sad story. 

“Don’t know what Kane thought he was teaching me by sending me there, but I learned the difference between the stealing like you did to survive and the stealing I did for fun. Decided when I got out I wasn’t going to stop, just steal different things and for different people, become a guard, use that. Knew I’d get floated for it eventually, but I could help a bit before then. 

“Only I didn’t get out, I got sent here and there’s not much call for thieves on the Ground, so I became a guard. It sounds like a punchline, but I’m still waiting to understand the joke.”

Raven doesn’t laugh. “On the Ark only time we’d have crossed paths – we wouldn’t’ve. Unless you were arresting me. Always figured I’d die by floating. One last spacewalk. Only there’s so many new ways to die now. And – and I don’t like gravity? It’s always pulling.”

“I like it, feels stable, like it’s not letting go, not ever.” Miller grins at her. “Yet here we are. Unfloated. Going to war against a myth.”

“That Mountain has lasted ninety seven years and Jasper Jordan punched a hole in it in a month.” Raven’s grin is vicious. “I’m going to do better. It won’t survive me.”

 

His name is Mike Bogdanovic, he’s fourteen and he’s dying.

Turns out a forced march can do that when you’ve got asthma.

He can hear his twin brother, Gabe, arguing with one of the Grounders, trying to persuade them to give him a horse or something. Either the Grounder doesn’t speak English or doesn’t care. Most likely both.

Mike closes his eyes, if he dies here at least the Ark can’t be angry that there’s two of them when there should only be one.

They’re identical or close enough they could pass as one child for a good chunk of time. They’d been seven when they were finally caught together. They’ve been in the Skybox ever since.

Half their life.

The half they remember.

They don’t even remember which name they went under officially. Which of them has the file granting him the right to live.

And which of them would be floated in four years.

Makes sense it would be the healthy one.

If Mike could breathe he’d tell Gabe to stop arguing. He’s stolen fourteen years more than he was supposed to have. At least the air he’s failing to suck in isn’t recycled, there’s sunlight on his face and he can hear birdsong.

Doctor Jackson is kneeling beside him, but they all know he doesn’t have the medicine that could save Mike.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” the doctor asks. “We could have sorted something out ... they gave Finn a cart when he was injured.”

Mike doesn’t say anything. He wouldn’t even if he could.

How could he even start to explain?

How he’d selfishly wanted those last hours with Gabe.

How he knew he’d never make it.

He’s superfluous to requirements.

Any resources used on him are wasted.

Let Gabe be the one to go home.

Let their father celebrate his son’s return, instead of mourn his sons’.

There was only ever supposed to be one.

Now there is.

 

“We’re not the only ones who stayed,” Clarke tells them once they’re all gathered in the cave again. “About ten of them, probably those who don’t have anything to go back to the Ark for. They’re not the enemy, they’re my people just as much as you and I’d happily leave them in peace, but we need whatever supplies Wells left us and the tech. So we’re going to need to negotiate with them.”

“Who’s there?” Bellamy asks.

“I didn’t recognize most of them, but I saw Atom,” Clarke answers.

“And Mbege,” Murphy says a little bitterly. “Sparky and the Idiot with him, of course. Sterling, so I bet Monroe’s there too. Shoana and Connor. Didn’t get a good look at any of the others and there could be more that were out of camp or inside.” He shrugs at everyone’s stares. “Oh, you’re surprised that I know something, but not that Clarke didn’t actually care enough to find that same thing out?”

“Shut up, Murphy,” Finn says. “Just because Clarke can’t recite an entire list of a hundred people and identify them from a distance isn’t a failure.”

“Yeah,” Harper agrees. “That’s what she’s got me for.”

“No way can you -” Murphy starts.

Jasper speaks over him. “So, how are we doing this? March in the front gate and ask them nicely to give us their food and blankets?”

Monty rolls his eyes. “We need something to offer them in return, they might have no more right to it than we do, but they have possession and they’re not giving that up for nothing. A small group to negotiate would be best, perhaps with back up in case it gets ugly? And a second strategy in case negotiation goes poorly – I don’t want to say take it by force if they refuse, but taking it anyway is the only option that allows us to survive.”

“So we take it by stealth,” Octavia suggests, startling even herself. “While negotiations are happening, Harper and Finn sneak round to wherever they’re keeping the supplies and if Clarke gives a signal, something subtle, they take it, if things go well and they’re careful, no one ever needs to know Finn and Harper were even there.”

Bellamy looks at Octavia in surprise. “Okay, Monty, Jasper, I don’t know how you did it, but thank you for teaching my sister the definition of the word careful.”

“We didn’t teach her that,” Jasper says with much less humor. “Mount Weather did.”

Miller raises his hand in the awkward silence. “I kind of hate saying this, but the negotiation party should be Clarke, Raven ... Murphy and Bellamy.”

There’s a general wave of protest, loudest from Murphy.

Clarke hushes them. “Miller, justify that.”

“Clarke’s medicine and Raven’s tech skills are both things we can offer in trade,” Miller says.

“Oh, please tell me we’re trading away Murphy and Bellamy too,” Raven jokes, to some laughter and Murphy’s middle finger.

“Sadly, no,” Miller tells her, “but Atom used to be loyal to Bellamy and well, I saw more than I wanted of what he and Murphy got up to.”

“Oh, you saw _nothing_ ,” Murphy jeers.

“Like I said, more than I wanted,” Miller says. “Mbege was loyal to Murphy too, along with Spar- Jason and Jacob. Sterling and Monroe were Bellamy’s, right up until The Night of We Really Need to Agree on a Name for That Shitshow. I don’t know Shoana, but Connor was part of my guard for a bit, never one of Murphy’s Hunters, let him go because he had a bit too much of a temper.”

Harper shakes her head. “Not much I can add to that, though I know Sterling and Monroe ... well. Better than well. In the sense Murphy knows Atom. But I’m more useful on the sneaky side than the talking. Shoana, hm, generally friendly, doesn’t make strong enemies or close allies, uh, good with knots, me and Finn got traps and nets from her, nothing particularly interesting.”

Murphy sniggers. “Mhm, yup, that’s it. All there is.”

“No,” Harper tells him. “You are not allowed to know more about people than I do. That’s my whole thing. Clarke, tell him to stop stealing my thing.”

“Murphy, stop stealing Harper’s thing,” Clarke manages with a mostly straight face.

“In that case I guess I just have to tell her allll about just how good with knots Sh-” Murphy leans towards Harper.

Miller clamps a hand over Murphy’s mouth and pulls him back.

Monty raises his hand. “Uh, can someone remind me why Murphy is going with the negotiation group again?”

“Because he knows them,” Miller says, sounding exhausted. “And before anyone says anything, yes, the fact they know him is my argument against.”

“So, just to get this right,” Monty says. “We’re sending Murphy into a camp of people, half of whom are apparently his exs, in order to avoid a fight?”

Murphy extracts himself from Miller. “To be fair only about a third of them are my exs, the others are split between Harper and Bellamy. There is some overlap.”

“Hey!” Bellamy sounds genuinely offended. “I didn’t sleep with any of the people you mentioned.”

“And I only slept with Atom,” Murphy returns, “but Monty said -”

“Monty would like nothing to do with this argument,” Monty says quickly. “Monty would like to know an actual plan and time.”

“There’s nothing stopping us doing it now?” Clarke says. “There’s nothing we need to do to prepare, just go?” It sounds wrong, the concept that there’s something they can do, right at this moment, to make things different. It’s been a long week.

A general wave of agreement doesn’t reduce Clarke’s feeling that she’s forgetting something.

 

It’s never a good sign when Cage calls Maya to Dante’s office.

This time he looks pleased, which has to be worse.

She doesn’t say anything, let him do the work.

“I wanted you to be the second to know, dear,” Cage says, unable to even manage his father’s painfully fake affection. “I mean, after Emerson, he’s already organizing a team to hunt them down. We’ve found where your odd Outsiders came from.”

Maya remains silent, not sure how she feels. It’s bad news of course, but if there’s adults ... if she doesn’t have to see them ... if Tsing can find a cure and they can all go outside ...

Cage isn’t going to make it that easy.

“Turns out they were telling the truth when they said they fell from the sky,” Cage tells her with a manic giggle. “A spaceship. They must’ve been up there just as long as we’ve been in here. Dr. Tsing tells me the radiation in space would have made them very good at filtering it. She even thinks she can recreate the effect. All she needs is some Outsiders to test it on. And, Maya, since it’s your fault we don’t have any already, you’re going to be helping us. As a lab assistant, a promotion. Say thank you.”

“Thank you, President Wallace,” Maya recites blankly.

He’s an idiot if he thinks putting her anywhere near this project is going to work in his favor.

If it was hidden away behind heavy doors and polite terms, Maya could ignore it. She has before.

Only Jasper made her look and now she can’t stop seeing.

Cage thinks he’s scaring her, making her behave by showing her exactly what he’s willing to do.

She doesn’t feel scared, not exactly, not as her main emotion.

Maya is too busy being angry.

 

Kath grins at the Grounder boy. They’ve been walking side by side for a few hours now.

He seems to speak fluent English, but then again he keeps calling her Meizenouskai, so she could be wrong. She thinks his name is Artigas.

They’re swapping names of flowers when one of the scary Grounder commander women notices and calls Artigas back to his side of the invisible line. He grins apologetically at Kath and hurries to his leader’s side.

She wonders why he’s here. He looks about fifteen, same as her and that has to be too young to be a warrior, but he carries a bow and a quiver of arrows with familiarity. Maybe he’s a hunter.

Yes, that makes the most sense, because he’s lighter and smaller he can get in closer to get a clear shot before being seen.

There’s no way a boy with a smile like that is a killer.

No way he’s one of the people forcing them on this march with the only other option Atom’s little band of suicidal idiots.

Kath doesn’t know what would happen if someone tried to run, but she doubts the Grounders would let them easily.

But Artigas is different.

He’s not like those other Grounders.

He’s nice.

 

Raven is furious.

Atom’s idiots have moved into the dropship, her workspace, and are standing in the way of her even collecting a toolkit.

“Float yourself, Princess,” Atom tells Clarke, leaning an incredibly deliberate hand on his shiny new Grounder axe. Raven would like to shove that axe up the ass of whoever gave it to him and then shove that person up Atom’s ass.

“We’re all on the same side here,” Clarke says again. “There’s enough for everyone and you don’t have a doctor or mechanic.”

Murphy rolls his eyes and steps forward, for a moment Raven thinks she should stop him, but then again they brought him here for this. Be nice if Bellamy would do something other than stare at the ground though.

“The problem isn’t the offer, Princess,” Murphy says, pushing Clarke a little to the side when he could have just walked around. “The problem is who’s making it. You’re not in charge any more. Only person who thought you ever really were was Wells and he’s gone. So you’re gonna need to start treating people like equals or you’ll be left all alone in some cave with nothing but your sense of self-entitlement.”

Raven groans. “Murphy, what part of ‘we’re allowing you to come along as long as you make yourself helpful’ sounded like ‘please insult us in the middle of negotiations?’”

Murphy winks at her, which isn’t an answer to anything and continues, “Atom, you’ve got Clarke floating Griffin begging you for help, I know you prefer something a little more down on the knees and desperate, but this is as good as you’re gonna get with the uptight bitch. Give her the shit she wants and we can stop standing in the mud like -”

“Not gonna work, Murphy,” Atom tells him with a grin. “I’ve seen you bargain before. You’re Clarke’s bitch and you’re trying to help her. Needs to start treating people like her equal doesn’t fly when two of the party are wearing collars.”

Shrugging, Murphy tugs at the leather round his neck. “This? I’m wearing it to survive, not ‘cause of loyalty. I betrayed the Grounders, they won’t take me back. The Ark’s never been my friend. Clarke’s pet war was my only option and now, I’d rather not starve with her. So I’ll do what it takes to get her the rations, because she’s far too kind for her own good and will give them to me. And you know me, Atom, you know exactly how few things I’d stop at to keep myself alive. When did I last take no for an answer?”

“He’s bluffing,” Connor says. “He’s got nothing to threaten you with.”

Atom holds up a hand, scrutinizing Murphy.

Raven is about as sure as she can be that he’s technically bluffing. It’s true that they’re not going to take no for an answer, only, not exactly in a way that makes it work as a threat.

If Murphy goes into specifics, Finn and Harper can’t do anything.

He’s telling Atom he’s going to play a card he can’t show for fear of making it worthless.

And relying on Atom’s past experience with him to know it’s not a bluff even without specifics.

Or he might just be telling the complete truth and have no clever strategy whatsoever.

Murphy is either very stupid or very clever.

Raven suspects he might well be both.

“Never make a threat you can’t follow through on,” Bellamy says quietly. “I’m sure I told you that at least once, Atom. I’ve told Clarke too. Murphy isn’t bluffing.”

It’s working. It’s actually floating working. They’ve convinced Atom they’ve got some back up plan without telling him what it is.

Maybe they should give Murphy some credit for this. Maybe.

“Got another option now,” Atom tells Murphy. “We don’t have a war, just wanna survive. Stay free. Princess give you what you want? Or haven’t you even asked? You know I can. Don’t expect me to let you lead or anything, but you’re welcome to join us. You too, mechanic. Blake, Princess, get out of my camp.”

“Float yourself,” Raven spits at Atom, who shrugs.

“Aw, whatever,” Murphy says. “Sorry, Clarke. Collins and McIntyre are lurking in the trees, got a signal to tell them when to steal what they can while you’re all distracted with us.”

Atom makes quick gestures and Connor and a couple of others jog off to go secure what looks to be the supply/council tent. Figures it’d be there.

“Murphy, you treacherous bastard,” Raven tells him.

He turns to her, actually looking angry at that accusation. “Tell me you wouldn’t do the same if it were Finn asking. Oh, but it isn’t the same, because we’re not in love. Mbege stayed with me through my shit childhood, just like Finn stayed with you through yours and Atom ... don’t love him, but he’s a damn sight more fun than any of you lot. He doesn’t have some mile long list of rules I’m supposed to know by instinct and he asks permission.” Murphy helps himself to Atom’s knife and uses it to cut through Clarke’s collar, a little trickle of blood soaking down to his shirt.

Raven considers pointing out that there’s a perfectly serviceable buckle about two inches from where he cut it, but given his actions when they first met, she had needed to resign herself then to Murphy’s need for dramatics.

It’s therefore not a surprise when Murphy throws the poor abused strip of leather at Bellamy.

“You heard Atom,” Murphy spits, “get the hell out of our camp.”

 

Clarke’s people regroup outside the camp.

There’s an awkward silence.

Monty raises his hand. “I’d just like to say, for the record, I was against sending Murphy.”

Everyone looks at Miller.

He doesn’t even try and defend himself. “I made a bad call, sorry, guys.”

“I don’t think you did,” says, of all people, Bellamy.

“We came out of that with nothing, because of Murphy, how was that not a bad call?” Raven turns to Bellamy, arms crossed.

Bellamy is frowning, as though he’s still working through why he thinks that. “Murphy – Atom made that offer because Murphy was a threat. He wanted him either out of the game or on his side. Which is exactly what me and Wells wanted back when – you know. Murphy’s a good negotiator? Good with people? Look, he talked me into turning myself over to him without a fight. You just need to get him wanting something that isn’t a fight. Atom was going to accept our offer. He assumed Murphy meant a fight and he wasn’t willing to risk his people any more than we were willing to risk ours. Only, Murphy would have. He’d have gone into that fight and Atom knew it. He had to gamble on Clarke not being willing to or us refusing to follow Clarke into that fight. Atom didn’t think Murphy was negotiating on Clarke’s behalf, he thought Murphy was running things. He had a floating collar on and he just acted like he owned the place and Atom believed him. If Murphy had a speck of loyalty to anything that wasn’t himself, he’d be damn useful.”

“But he doesn’t, so he’s just a wildcard,” Raven points out. “Name one problem we’ve had that Murphy made better instead of worse.”

“I feel like he should get points for bringing Bellamy in,” Finn says, “but lose them again for helping me break Bellamy out.”

“The alliance with the Grounders,” Harper adds, “but he did do that to try and kill us all.”

“We could get him back,” Octavia suggests. “Flip him against Atom and get the supplies that way?”

“Okay,” Jasper says. “I think I speak for everyone when I say we don’t want him back. He just betrayed us!”

“The week he was the Grounders’ problem was the most peaceful week I have spent on the Ground,” Bellamy tells them, “and I spent that week pretending to be dead and thinking Octavia was in Mount Weather.”

“So,” Monty says, “we all agree Murphy’s a dick. Yay. What do we do now?”

“We walk away,” Clarke says. “The camp, Atom, the supplies, it’s just a distraction. We need to focus on Mount Weather, go back to the cave and work on a plan for that. If all we’ve lost from this is a bit of time and _Murphy_ ...”

No one argues.

 

Bree presses close to Roma’s side when they finally get to rest that night.

“Do you think they’re okay?” Bree asks, staring up at the night sky.

“Whether they are or aren’t, they’re not up there any more,” Roma says. “The Ark’s on the Ground. Whatever that means for them or us.”

“I hated the Ark,” Bree says softly, turning her head to listen to Roma’s heartbeat. “It’s weird to think it’s gone. Not gone gone, but it’s not going to be the same. The air, the light, the gravity. Everything except the people and the shell. I don’t know if I’m going to like it more or less.”

“The rules will change,” Roma adds. “Exodus Charter. I never bothered to read it, didn’t think it’d ever matter to me. Now I’m going to go live by it.”

“Unless you’re planning on having a baby and didn’t mention it, I think it’s gonna be much the same,” Bree says. “Just instead of death, they’ve got sentences based on severity of crime and stuff. I zoned out for most of it. Lots of shocklashing, doesn’t sound like fun. So, uh, next time you feel like kneeing a guard in the groin, just remember, it’s not going to get you killed, there’s no more Skybox and it’s always worth it.”

Roma laughs and pets Bree’s hair. “You’re a bad influence,” she says.

Bree nods happily. “Seventy five juvenile delinquents are going to step back onto the Ark and the very first thing I’m going to do is organize a party. Really rub it in their faces that we survived.”

“You can’t!” Roma says. “Not without Jasper. Kid makes the best moonshine on the whole station. It won’t be the same.”

“It will also be a party in his memory,” Bree promises. “It’s how he would have wanted to be remembered. Lots of very drunk, very happy, very high people attempting to dance in the dark to loud music. Jasper Jordan’s legacy.”

 

318.

The strange bracelet Cage is somehow using to track the Outsiders from Space is stamped with the number 318.

Maya wonders what it means.

If the other two, which had proved dead, had numbers too.

She sits and watches as Emerson directs Sergeant Langston’s squad into the Outsider camp. It looks deserted. It looks as though they left in a hurry.

But there’s still a signal coming from one of the tents.

Carter is the one to push inside and Maya’s heart sinks. This Outsider is even younger, ten, twelve. A little girl blinking sleepily up at the armed man in a hazmat suit.

She screams.

Emerson curses, any others in the camp will have been alerted. “Use the gas,” he orders. “Surround the spaceship entrance, tranquilizers only.”

Carter hesitates. “She’s only a-” is as far as he gets before the girl pulls a short thin sword from where it was tangled in her bedding and stabs him in the leg. It wouldn’t have been fatal.

If it hadn’t torn a hole in the radiation suit.

Maya still sees a scared child as the girl backs away, the camera tilting, Carter screaming. Emerson must be seeing something else, because he says, “Shit, Carter’s down, moment the bitch comes out tranq her!”

None of the Outsiders that spill out of the spaceship look older than Maya. One of them, a boy with an axe and a spiked leather jacket yells for Charlotte. Maya thinks that must be the scared girl.

There aren’t any others as young as her.

They have good weapons, well made, presumably they know how to use them, but in a fight where the slightest tear in a radiation suit means death, the Ground Unit can’t allow it to get to melee. Langston gestures and the two living members of his squad lob grenades that spew out red smoke, followed by a flurry of tranq darts. The Outsiders don’t stand a chance.

The Ground Unit go to collect Charlotte last, using Carter’s camera to aim and put a tranq into her through the fabric of the tent.

The mission is a success. There is one casualty.

Maya wishes there had been four.

 

When Charlotte starts screaming, everyone else grabs weapons and runs for outside.

No one had bothered to give Murphy a weapon. Atom had even insisted he give his knife back.

Why does no one trust him with weapons? Was it something he did?

Gunshots.

Arkers.

Arkers who hadn’t taken kindly to a group of criminals waving medieval weaponry at them.

Or Maunon.

That option is worse.

Arkers might accept his surrender, the Maunon just want to experiment on him.

Somehow Murphy doubts they’re any more likely to take ‘I’m not with them’ as a defense than Trikru had.

He needs to think quickly.

He could pull the lever that seals the door, cocoon himself inside until they give up and go away. Only ... if they’re Arkers they can get a mechanic to pry him out and then there’s nowhere to run. Besides they don’t even know he’s here, maybe they won’t look inside the large obvious metal cylinder ... yeah, just staying quiet isn’t going to cut it.

There is one option.

An option Murphy already hates.

That he’s not sure he can do silently.

But Raven’s pried up enough of the floor panels that it’s just a matter of finding a big enough gap under one.

If this works Murphy promises to never make fun of Bellamy again.

Okay, he can’t promise that.

Never make fun of Octavia then. At least not for her childhood.

Murphy hides under the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone thinking that a scene in which an older brother figure gives a younger sister figure a sword and needles are mentioned is familiar ... yeah, that's a Game of Thrones reference. Read the books at 14, enjoyed them, watched the show at 15, didn't enjoy it as much, gave up by season 3. I was there for character not violence.
> 
> Would it surprise you to learn Murphy wasn't going to say anything sexual about Shoana? He just knew what she was arrested for ... booby trapping various guards. Maybe relevant if they're planning on sneaking in to try and steal from her, no? Oh, but clearly they don't want him to tell them.
> 
> I like Kath. I wasn't sure I was going to when I first met her, but then I realized she was my self insert in a sense. Of course, so's everyone, you draw from what you know, but Kath with her temper and awkwardness and feeling like she's taking up more space than she deserves and certainty that she's nothing special ... yeah, that was me at fifteen.
> 
> PERSONAL STUFF Right before a moment that changed the rules forever. The kind of moment when your mom meets you in the garden when you come home from school and tells you there's someone here with bad news. If you're thinking I lost my dad, he'd been gone for 15 years by choice at that point. I'm nearly a decade on from that, a few traumas wiser. What happens to Kath isn't kinder than what happened to me. She's different for it.
> 
> Player: Atom  
> Achievement Unlocked: Morality Pet  
> Armour Obtained: Murphy's Jacket
> 
> Player: Murphy  
> Item Obtained: Harper's Thing (stolen)
> 
> Murphy has left Team: Fuck Up Mount Weather
> 
> Murphy has joined Team: Float Jaha
> 
> Atom: sit the hell down and shut up  
> Atom: i want my knife back too  
> Murphy: trade for my jacket  
> Atom: ha. no.  
> Charlotte: GUYS LIL HELP
> 
> Charlotte has eliminated Carter
> 
> Atom: oshit
> 
> Lisa is down  
> Lisa Ann is down  
> Myles is down  
> Sterling is down  
> Jason is down  
> Mbege is down  
> Connor is down  
> Monroe is down  
> Shoana is down  
> Jacob is down  
> Atom is down
> 
> Murphy: oshit
> 
> Charlotte is down
> 
> Murphy: huh whys she even still up  
> Murphy: ...  
> Murphy: fuck this shit I'm out
> 
> Murphy has left Team: Float Jaha
> 
> Atom: bich


	11. Bandrona kom Skaikru

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nice simple translation, all canon. Ambassador of the Sky People.
> 
> Warning for things getting a bit Kafkaesque. If you've ever had to deal with bureaucracy ... just believe me, Gabe's experience is not unrealistic. Even when it comes to literal life or death.

It’s not the whole Ark. Just Alpha Station and a large chunk of Mecha.

But Wells’ father runs to greet him, pulling him into a tight hug. When he lets go he’s the Chancellor again, but he keeps a hand on Wells’ shoulder as Abby embraces him.

“Clarke?” Abby asks, scanning the crowd as though Clarke wouldn’t have been right next to Wells.

“She stayed,” Wells tells her quickly. “To look after those who didn’t want to come back. Last I saw her she was fine.”

Abby smiles, half sad, half proud. “Of course. She couldn’t go when people needed her.”

“Those who didn’t want to come back?” Jaha asks, sounding genuinely confused. “What’s out there to stay for?”

Wells stares at him, surely he can’t be that oblivious. “They’re not staying for- well there’s the Mountain- but that’s- look, can we have this debriefing in front of the entire council? And not in public? There’s a lot to go over. Twenty seven absent and not all for the same reason.”

There’s a hesitation, then Abby says gently, “We are the council, all that’s left of it. We put one council member on each station and split the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor between Alpha and Agro, the ones most likely to become bases for survivors from other stations. Cole was on Mecha, but we lost about half the population, Cole with them. We haven’t been able to contact any of the other stations or even the dropship.”

“Yeah, that comes under stuff we need to discuss in private,” Wells says firmly. He turns and quickly picks out someone he can trust who doesn’t look too distressed and isn’t busy reuniting with family. “Jones, could you go tell Anya, Indra and Kali I’m briefing the Chancellor and Dr. Griffin before the first official meeting between our peoples. Oh, and giving them time to set up the tent.”

Jones grins, gives Wells a thumbs up and disappears into the crowd.

Jaha and Abby are looking at him a little oddly when he turns back. “I assume you’ve got somewhere we can have this conversation?” Wells asks.

 

Cage makes Maya watch as Doctor Tsing tests the standard transfusion methods using one of the Outsiders.

It’s not going to tell them anything they haven’t already worked out, but apparently they need to be sure.

Maya knows the girl they deliberately exposed to radiation. Keenan. She’d made an attempt to befriend Octavia, but had been firmly ignored. This is her punishment for that kindness. Maya doesn’t know if Keenan knows that.

They scream the same. Outsider boy and Mountain girl. The same pustules and redness appear on their skin.

Their blood looks the same going in as it does coming out.

But there’s a huge difference.

They both survive. Recovery in a fraction of the lowest time ever recorded. Cage and Tsing are overjoyed.

Maya has to fight to keep from throwing up.

When the boy stirs, Maya takes advantage of Cage and Tsing’s distraction to brush the hair out of his face and attempt to smile. He looks angry, exhausted and in agony.

“I’m Maya,” she says, for lack of anything better to say. “I’m sorry I can’t do more to help you.”

He responds with a croak, biting back a coughing fit to the point it just shakes his body in silence to avoid drawing attention.

Maya checks Cage and Tsing aren’t looking before giving him some water. He tries to gulp it, but she only allows him sips and after a few he collapses, unable to keep himself up.

“Atom,” he says.

“Adam?” Maya asks, thinking she can’t have heard right.

“Nah, Atom, like the molecule,” Atom says attempting a lazy grin.

“That can’t be your real name!” Maya says without thinking.

“’s real enough,” he tells her seriously. “Just ‘cause my birth certificate says James Harvey, that don’t make it my name.”

She nods in understanding, not thinking too hard about the fact these Outsiders have birth certificates. “Mine says Maya Vie and that’s my name, even though they call me Maya Wallace now.”

“’s a pretty name,” Atom tells her. “Thanks, Maya Vie.” He slurs it into something closer to Mayvie. Maya likes that.

“Thanks, Atom,” she says back.

They could argue forever over which of them is stuck in a worse situation, but it’s easier to be kind.

Even if that kindness gets them both killed.

 

Gabe walks up to the table and the guard scans him to record his survival.

“Mike Bogdanovic,” the guard says tonelessly, he’s been going through these for hours and confirming identity is a dull job.

“No,” Gabe says.

The guard starts to automatically wave him past, then halts. “Wait, you’re not Mike Bogdanovic?” He turns the tablet so Gabe can see the file he’s looking at. “You look a hell of a lot like him.”

Gabe almost laughs. “I’m his twin brother. Gabe Bogdanovic. I might not exist properly on your files.” Well, now he knows which of them was supposed to exist. Figures it’d be too late to do anything about that.

There’s a moment when the guard tries to do something with the tablet then shakes his head. “There’s a file for Gabe Bogdanovic, but it just automatically reroutes to Mike Bogdanovic. Is Mike here? We should be able to sort this out.”

That does make Gabe laugh. “Mike’s dead,” he tells the guard, with a certain amount of cruel satisfaction. “Leave the file as it is. There’s only one of us now, you don’t need two files for one person.”

“No, I’m sorry,” the guard says. “I can’t do that. I have to resolve the issue. If you’d just wait to the side, I’ll call someone to have a look at the problem.”

“There is no problem.” Gabe tries to walk around the table, but the guard catches his arm.

“Please, Mr. Bogdanovic, I need you to remain here until I’ve received confirmation of your official status.”

“Fine, then I’m Mike. I’m Mike Bogdanovic, just like it says when you scanned me. No problem. My brother Gabe is dead and therefore his official status is irrelevant. You can let me walk away, neither of us have to waste time on this!”

For a moment he thinks the guard is going to agree, then he shakes his head, standing to block Gabe’s way. “It’s not just your status, sir, it’s the matter of the reroute. Whoever put that in place hacked into Ark systems and must be identified.”

“They’re dead!” Gabe yells. “My parents did it and you floated them for having twins!”

“Sir, please calm down,” the guard says. “This is out of my hands.”

“You killed my brother! You killed my mother! You killed my father! And now you’re questioning if I have the right to live! All you have to do is pretend you didn’t notice,” Gabe begs. “Just let me walk away. Let me be Mike. Please, let me be Mike.”

“Sir, I was not personally responsible for any of those deaths,” the guard tells him. “You need to calm down. No one is going to kill you for an error in the system.”

Gabe doesn’t believe him.

He turns to run, no destination in mind, just away, before they kill him.

The guard catches him easily, restrains him.

He kicks and struggles, still pleading, “No, I’m Mike, I’m Mike, please, don’t, I’m Mike.”

He can hear the guard radio for assistance and panics, biting into the guard’s hand. He’s dropped and hits the ground on all fours, scrabbling to escape.

The shocklash knocks him unconscious.

 

Wells frowns slightly at Commander Shumway’s presence and even harder at Diana Sydney’s. Abby and Jaha might be the only remaining elected members of the council, but that doesn’t seem to have made them the entire council. He’s happier about Sinclair, if only because he’s heard a lot of good about the man. Jackson is at Wells’ side. He hopes they appreciate his restraint in not bringing Jones as head of his guard or any of his other criminals.

Maybe he should have. After all they’d be in good company.

But Wells needs this not to look like he’s the other here. That he’s not the man who has led seventy five Delinquents of dubious loyalties into their home.

He needs to be the returning son.

“Dad- I mean, Chancellor, you know Eric Jackson. His work on the Ground kept us alive, we really wouldn’t have made it without him. He was the one who worked on my leg when I was shot. I was wondering if, uh, you could pardon him too? Like you have all the others?”

“Of course,” Jaha says warmly.

Wells smiles as though he’s a little embarrassed for even needing to ask. He can feel Jackson glance at him. Hopefully his doctor will understand what he’s doing, recognise that Wells did need to ask and had probably saved his life.

“So, uh,” Wells says, as though he hasn’t got this speech fully prepared. “Things have been ... there’s been a lot. I’m sure you can say the same. Our relations with the Grounders, the ones outside, have been friendly. They helped us get food and build shelter and all that. Clarke was their main point of contact, though. I think they want me to take her place? Or at least be around as a reminder they’re still talking to us?”

There’s a few nods, but Sydney and Abby are looking a little suspicious. After all, Wells just asked to be part of all future negotiations with the Grounders.

“Um, about the people who aren’t with us ... it kinda starts with this place. Mount Weather, where you said to get supplies. It turns out there’s people living there. And they can’t survive on the Ground. Not like we and – and our Grounders can. The Mount Weather Grounders take our Grounders and use their blood to cure radiation poisoning.”

Cue gasps of horror.

Our Grounders. Not just any old Grounders. Ours.

Jaha taught Wells every trick he’s using, but he’s drawn in just because he’s complacent enough to think Wells would never use them against him.

Poor bastard.

Now for the real kicker.

“They ... took some of us. Monty Green, Jasper Jordan and Octavia Blake.” List in order of most popular with your audience, anyone they wanted to kill for being born automatically falls to last place.

“Octavia escaped, same day you came down. She told us ...” Wells takes a moment to collect himself over how terrible the things she told him were. “She told us our blood, Arker blood, is effective. More effective than Grounder. I don’t know if anyone died to find that out. There’s not much chance Jasper and Monty are still alive.” Use first names for those you want your audience to sympathise with.

“Some people stayed to- to try and rescue them, but they don’t have a chance. Mount Weather has technology our Grounders can only consider magic. Guns, computers, an acid fog that nearly killed me and Clarke the day we arrived!” Focus on those you know have a personal stake. Wells looks at Sinclair. “Raven was one who chose to stay, she’s a genius, I could tell that from the short time I knew her, but she’s never going to be enough to win. I can give you a full list of the twenty that choose to stay behind. They’re all heroes ... and they’re all going to die.”

Wells doesn’t mention that Atom’s group has no intention of fighting, if the Ark sends help they won’t allow them to anyway. He doesn’t mention Miller for Jackson, he’s already won him over. He doesn’t mention Bellamy, not when he suspects Sydney of being the one to send Shumway to recruit Bellamy to shoot Jaha.

Best they think he’s dead.

“The – the other six. They’re dead. Mostly accidents. We lost two who unbuckled their seatbelts during re-entry, oh, but Clarke must have told you about them already, along with Trina and Pascal who we believe we lost to Mount Weather’s acid fog. A boy died during the march here, asthma … Jackson didn’t have the medication he needed. And there was ... a fight.” Wells hesitates, he needs to be careful with his phrasing here. “Bellamy Blake and Victor Dax. It wasn’t pretty. Everyone was relieved when he decided to stay.”

“Dax beat a man to death and Blake shot the Chancellor,” Commander Shumway says. “It’s not a surprise they’d be willing to kill over ... whatever it was.”

“I didn’t ask,” Wells claims, though technically it had been Clarke to ask.

There’s a sombre silence, then Abby stands up and walks over to rub Wells’ back comfortingly. “Our children are out there, fighting a war they can’t win against an enemy that would kill us all if it could. I say we help them. Ally with the Grounders against Mount Weather. March out there and bring our children home safe.”

Goal.

Wells considers the room. He’s got Abby’s open and Sinclair’s quiet support based on Clarke and Raven. He has Jackson’s support, but Jackson has no more sway than Wells here. More importantly no vote. There’s no chance of turning Shumway or Sydney.

What really matters is his father.

If Wells was out there Jaha would already have given the order, but Wells can’t waste time crouching in a muddy hole carrying a pointy stick. Not when he’s got to negotiate peace between the Grounders and the Ark without letting either side know he’s the one doing it.

Sure it was fun playing Clarke’s vice chancellor and for parts his feud with Bellamy was fun too, but this ... this is what Wells was trained for. Proper politics. Life and death instead of who gets the last bite of burnt pig.

And Murphy isn’t even here to ruin it.

“I’ll bring it up at the meeting with the Grounder Council,” Jaha says.

That’s a yes.

Wells tries to keep his face neutral as Jaha dismisses them all. Only Wells and Abby get the instruction to attend said meeting.

Just outside Abby calmly draws Wells aside for a moment.

“Yes, Doctor Griffin?” Wells asks innocently.

“Wells Jaha,” Abby says in the tone he easily recognises as her being proud of him for something she really should be mad about. “Next time you plan on persuading the Chancellor to go to war to protect my daughter, warn me first. So I can properly help.”

“Sorry, Abby,” Wells tells her contritely. “There wasn’t a chance to tell you privately. If it helps, I knew you’d be with me the moment I mentioned Clarke had stayed. Before we even entered that room.”

Abby hugs him tightly. “Now we just need to stop Jaha undoing all the work you and Clarke have done with the Grounders.”

Wells winces. “Uh, about that, they might not be quite as friendly as I said. Anya thinks they should kill us all, Kali thinks technology is the work of the devil and Indra ... Indra’s quite nice actually, once you get past the stone cold badass exterior. It’s her land we’re occupying and it’s her people who stand to gain the most from the defeat of Mount Weather ... and I should really have mentioned that Jasper blew up a bit of it, freeing a load of her people ... and that our alliance was based on Clarke trying to bug them, but being betrayed by the person she sent to plant it.”

Grinning, Abby shakes her head. “Okay, you have to tell me how that started an alliance. You’ve been busy while I’ve been dealing with ration allocation and stubbed toes.”

Wells grins back, Clarke is his best friend and Abby’s daughter, but she’s never been a political animal in the same way Wells and Abby are. “You miss Kane,” Wells teases her.

Abby groans and admits, “I do. He’s the only one who can give me a proper challenge. Especially when it comes to influencing your father.”

“Let’s just hope we never disagree,” Wells says.

“As long as Clarke remains our priority,” Abby replies, “we won’t.”

 

“You did a good job today,” Jasper tells Bellamy while stirring the mixture that will become tattoo safe ink. Probably. Hopefully.

Bellamy rolls his eyes. “I gave Finn and Harper nothing but complaints, contributed nothing to the meeting with Atom and then spent the rest of the day snapping at people for not being Murphy. Barely anyone told me to do anything. I should start over again.”

“Nope, you didn’t get any complaints. We’re all on edge and angry at Murphy,” Jasper says, dipping a cloth into the antiseptic or possibly antibiotic tree sap the Grounders use. “Uh, remind me again why the trained medic isn’t doing this?”

“Because you’re the least likely to poison me?” Bellamy asks. “Because it doesn’t need to be neat, just there? Because Clarke had exactly as much tattooing experience as you the first time? Because you actually have slightly more because you watched it being done once?”

“While I was drunk!” Jasper points out. “I mean, so was the guy doing it and the one having it done – maybe this would go better if I was drunk.” He rubs the tree sap over Bellamy’s wrist. “But Clarke knows stuff like – like don’t stab the big veins.”

“You’re not doing this drunk,” Bellamy says firmly, “and you know not to stab the big veins.”

Jasper is breathing in short sharp gasps, so Bellamy grips his shoulder. “Jasper, look at me, calm. You’re not going to kill me. You’re not going to cripple me. You’re going to make a little line on my arm and next time, Clarke does it.”

“Can’t Clarke do it this time?” Jasper asks, but she’s not going to be back until the morning and they want it left undisturbed for as long as possible without forcing Bellamy to sit around feeling useless.

Bellamy smiles at him. “Just don’t get ink on your labcoat, would really mess up the mad scientist thing you’ve got going.”

“I don’t know,” Jasper responds, allowing himself to be drawn into banter to keep him calm. “I think a splash of black would be just right to get it to evil mad scientist.”

“You’re not evil, Jasper,” Bellamy says, as Jasper finally picks up the needle. “You’ve done bad things, but you’re not evil.”

“This isn’t the time,” Jasper tells him, apparently wanting to avoid this conversation enough to stop hesitating.

Bellamy winces, working hard to keep from pulling away from the pain. “No? I think this is exactly the time. You’re helping me, but who’s helping you deal with it? Monty’s too mixed up in the whole thing.”

“Clarke took my sword.”

“The sword didn’t kill people. You killed people.”

“Real philosophical.” Jasper puts the needle down and catches a dribble of mixed ink and blood with a fresh cloth. “You offering me a tally too? I don’t know my number.”

“I’m offering whatever you need,” Bellamy says. “Not what I need. Your kills were merciful, mine were unnecessary. Murders. I had the option not to kill and those people would have gone on living full lives. All those you killed would have had is more pain and suffering. So, you did the right thing and I know that because I didn’t. And the others they look at us and label us both killers, simple, clean cut. It isn’t. You need to get over guilt that - that you don’t deserve and I don’t have a solution to that. My guilt I need to keep or I’ll do it again, your guilt could hold you back from the right thing in the future.”

Jasper starts wrapping a bandage around Bellamy’s wrist. “I can’t just stop feeling how I feel.”

“You need to forgive yourself,” Bellamy agrees. “Do something that you feel balances the scales. People forget that the heart isn’t evil, not inherently, that’s not what it symbolizes. It’s the pain we cause. The lives we take. And the feather is our kindnesses. Reasons aren’t considered, just actions. You can love and love and still be eaten or you can hate and float away on the breeze. Or vice versa. So, no matter your motive, be kind where you can.” He can tell Jasper isn’t familiar with Ancient Egyptian funerary beliefs, but he basically understands the metaphor.

“By that logic I should walk away,” Jasper says. “Leave Mount Weather be. Forget about the people it’s killed and the people it will kill. I can’t do that.”

Bellamy smiles. “We should. Our people are safe. We should run, leave this fight to whoever they try to hurt next. But I can’t either. Because Octavia won’t. You’re a better man than me, Jasper, and you don’t deserve to feel guilt for your bravery. For your sense of fairness. For your refusal to turn your back when others are hurting. But that blood will weigh you down, no matter where it’s from.”

“I can take it,” Jasper tells him.

“I hope so,” Bellamy says.

 

Jaha is clueless.

Wells is sure that at some point he’d believed his father knew everything there was to know, but now it just seems slightly sad how little he does. He thinks he’s having one conversation while everyone else has a different conversation right in front of him.

Both Indra and Anya had jumped at the chance to make an alliance with actual adults, but then there’s the maneuvering involved in setting the terms of that alliance without actually admitting they want it, while Kali does her best to sabotage the entire concept.

Wells feels a little in awe watching Abby work. He sees the exact moment she spots the similarities between seda/seken and mother/child relationships and plays that angle as hard as she can. Jaha is still fumbling around thinking the war is still a hypothetical.

And that it was his idea.

Abby and Indra are all but moving figurines over a battle map by the time Jaha catches on that he is going to have to give a firm yes or no and that he’s heavily outnumbered on the yes front.

He still thinks the war is his idea.

Wells doesn’t need to say a word.

He does occasionally, just leaning in to correct some minor detail Abby or Jaha has forgotten or misunderstood. No harm in reminding them he’s there. Abby thanks him immediately each time, while Jaha looks a little surprised before the gratitude.

Wells needs to remember not to underestimate his father. After all, that’s the exact mistake Jaha is making that’s letting Wells get away with this.

He doubts Jaha would be defending their war if they told him the truth.

Clarke isn’t going to walk away until Mount Weather is destroyed. Therefore, Wells and Abby will destroy it for her.

Any other factor is irrelevant.

Indra and Anya feel the same way, just about Trikru as a whole instead of an individual. Kali is working on overcoming her distaste for the method.

The only person who might have a reason to not want the war is Jaha.

And no one’s telling him any of those reasons.

 

Murphy sleeps curled up under the floor.

He mocks Bellamy as a coward, but Bellamy would have fought.

And Bellamy would be dead or captured.

Murphy tells himself it’s not fear. It’s survival.

Same floating difference.

When daylight filters through the cracks after an entire night without any sign of anyone returning, Murphy emerges. He startles at every noise, takes a sword from the supply tent, it looks the simplest to use, nearly all of it is sharp except the bit you hold. Same principle as a knife.

Indra hadn’t progressed to letting him have a weapon yet. She’d put him against fighters that did though. Blunted sure, but Murphy had quickly learned not getting hit was the priority.

Given his previous fighting style, it had been a new concept.

Taking a hit and just keeping going had been a strategy that had worked wonders against people who were afraid of pain. Their empathy would turn their own blows against them.

People who are scared of pain are also scared of people who aren’t.

If you can get knocked down, blood streaming from your nose and get back up laughing, your opponent will back off nine times out of ten.

The tenth is another person who isn’t afraid of pain.

Those fights go until they can’t. Serious injury, outside interference, death.

Finding something else your opponent is afraid of.

Like his sister’s death or Clarke Griffin’s opinion.

Or being alone.

Murphy rubs at the small cut he made on his neck the day before as he considers his options. The Grounders and Delinquents hadn’t exactly left a subtle trail, even Raven ‘I never need Earth Skills, because space is the best’ Reyes could follow it. He could go to Indra. Losi and Lincoln must be nearly there already.

He’d be Kikabug and a terrible influence on Losi, but mainly so she knows how to protect herself from other such influences and maybe he’d progress to weapon holding and it’d be great, right up until he drops a bit of tech on the table and starts a war.

Because he screws everything up eventually.

Doesn’t matter how many times you punish him, he never learns.

So, he can’t go there, because he likes them and ... and he can’t inflict himself on them.

The Ark was never an option. He’d have been with Atom’s faction the whole way if it wasn’t for Clarke and her stupid war.

He could go hand himself over to Mount Weather.

Except he doesn’t want to.

He could walk away. See where he ended up. Start new.

Except he’d be alone.

Really, Murphy knows he’s already made up his mind. Stalling while he packs as many supplies as he can carry. Plus Raven’s toolkit and some weapons, may as well make as many friends as he can.

This is the worst option.

The absolute worst.

Crawling back to Clarke and Bellamy and Miller less than a day after he quite literally cut ties with them.

It’s also the best choice.

That tends to happen when you only have one.

Murphy isn’t ashamed to crawl, what’s important is that he can get back up again.

He’s not sure Clarke’s people are going to let him.

He’s very sure they can’t stop him.

He’ll kneel, long as it takes to keep him alive, but the moment they slip he’ll be back on his feet, spitting blood and laughing.

Murphy never learns.

 

Wells has learned from Clarke’s mistakes with the Grounders.

She had far too many parts to juggle, so she dealt with each crisis as it arose. No anticipation.

Just reaction.

A lot of her plans revolve around finding something to react to.

He wouldn’t be surprised if she’s out there waiting for the Maunon to make the first move. No plan until then.

Clarke always plays black in chess.

Which had worked well since Wells always plays white.

He’d also always let her win. The fun came from setting up a play and watching her figure it out and dismantle it. Now he’s neither playing Clarke nor for fun.

When Clarke is safe and Mount Weather is destroyed, Wells never doubts it will happen, the Arkers are going to need land. They’re going to need to locate any other survivors. Make a peacetime alliance with Trikru.

Wells isn’t a military strategist, he hasn’t the faintest idea how to take Mount Weather, but he has ideas for how to keep it.

Right now, the land on and around the mountain is uninhabitable. Acid Fog and Reapers. Both problems caused by the Maunon. Remove the Maunon from the equation and you remove the Acid Fog and the Reapers too.

Leaving lots of shiny new land that doesn’t technically belong to anyone that the Arkers can establish a colony on.

He doesn’t intend to include the interior of the Mountain, there’s too much potential tension if it looks as though the Arkers are simply taking the place of the Maunon. They can seal it, leaving a backdoor just in case, and establish themselves firmly above ground.

Hopefully Raven doesn’t blow up too much of it before Wells gets there.

 

Murphy is halfway there before the guilt hits.

Hiding was as much of a betrayal of Atom’s faction as joining them had been of Clarke’s kru. Charlotte was a child. Same age as Losi, probably. Jacob and Jason had reminded him of himself and Mbege. Jacob with his complete lack of self-preservation, though the eagerness to please was a major difference. Jason happy to go along with whatever crazy idea Jacob had next, though Mbege was both smarter and stronger.

And then there’s Mbege.

Mbege had never abandoned Murphy, no matter how bad it got and Murphy was good at making it bad to be his friend. He’d treated Mbege like shit and then he’d forgotten about him and even when he came back he hadn’t apologized or even acknowledged he’d done anything wrong.

And then Murphy hadn’t raised a finger to save him.

Because he’d been too concerned with saving himself.

Where the hell is that self-preservation when it’s only himself in danger, huh?

Why does it only kick in when there’s someone else to be hurt in his place?

If he’d been alone when the Maunon came, Murphy would have fought until they killed him or knocked him unconscious. Might not even have thought of hiding.

He doesn’t fight well as a team player. Too many factors to keep track of. If everyone around him is an enemy, it’s easy. You hit until they stop hitting back.

But if you’ve got allies you need to know if they’re hitting back or not and there’s probably something you’re supposed to do about if they can’t, but you can. Murphy had been in fights with Mbege watching his back. That had worked because Mbege was the best. He had the skill not to go down. No need for Murphy to worry about him and get all distracted.

Murphy doesn’t know how to defend.

Just attack.

 

“Octavia is _where_?!” Bellamy’s voice fluctuates wildly. “No, you – you told me she was with you to give Harper as much information as possible, _nothing_ else!”

“I mean, it’s technically true,” Finn points out, “she’s just giving Harper that information while they’re both inside Mount Weather.”

“Finn, not helping,” Raven says.

“It was Octavia’s idea,” Clarke tells Bellamy calmly. “She’s the only one familiar enough with the air vents to pull it off. Harper’s with her to keep her safe. Octavia isn’t being forced or even asked to do anything.”

“You sent my _sister_ into a place that wants to _experiment_ on her and she’s going to try and kill their leader?!” Bellamy is stuck, helpless, there’s nothing he can do. He doesn’t know the route, he has no weapons and he _can’t help Octavia._

“That’s the situation,” Clarke says.

This is the second, no, fourth, no ... basically all Clarke has done in the time Bellamy has known her is prevent him from being there to protect Octavia. He doesn’t know if he should kill her or thank her for it.

“I’m – I’m going to go find something to hit,” Bellamy tells them. “Firewood or – or something.” He doesn’t try to explain, they either get it or know not to get in his way.

It doesn’t feel like much of a victory to get outside and alone, but no one’s dead or shot or has a broken arm, so it’s a lot better than he’s managed in the past.

Of floating course that’s when Murphy shows up.

 

Maya doesn’t see Atom again, presumably he’s being allowed to recover.

She feels a little guilty about being glad he went first with the non-lethal procedure they know how to perform. It’s not like the boy she has to watch bleed out, a dark stain straining against the skin until it finally bursts, is any less dead or important for her not knowing his name.

They lose another Outsider, a girl this time, before Tsing gets onto the idea of bone marrow. Maya had known what Keenan had done to end up on the operating table, but she has no idea of MacPherson’s crime. He’s one of the dam engineers.

He was one of the dam engineers.

He’d torn out his fingernails clawing at the door to get back in while Cage had held Maya by the shoulder, just out of reach of the button, and made her watch.

The next Insider, as Maya has decided to call them since the Outsiders are just as much people in her eyes, they experiment on is a young guard. David Cibber had been caught trying to comfort one of the special Outsiders. Cage calls her the one that killed Carter, but Maya translates that to Charlotte, a scared pre-teen.

The bone marrow needs to be fresh so Tsing does the taking and giving in the same surgery. Maya sees Cibber smile reassuringly at the Outsider girl and the girl recognizing he’s as much a prisoner as she is. Neither of them see Maya as anything but complicit.

She misses Atom.

She’s very glad he isn’t here.

The girl screams. Cibber screams louder.

Maya remembers Cibber being a couple of years older than her in the school classes. He’d been much too cool to acknowledge her existence and she’d been much too busy learning to care. There just hadn’t been enough children that they could completely miss each other.

She can’t imagine he’s been through much pain in his life. After all, neither had she.

The Outsider girl on the other hand seems more resigned than shocked.

Jasper, Octavia and Monty had glossed over their time on the Ark, but there had been things they’d let slip, mainly as jokes, that made Maya horrified. Octavia had lived under the floor and the alternative had been death. Jasper had witnessed a boy beaten for no real reason and found it funny because the boy had been a bully. Monty had no idea you could just turn a tap and have more water when you were thirsty.

Little things she’d taken for granted. Things like having the choice to have as many children as she wanted or not being attacked by a teacher or water.

Or not being sent to prison until reaching 18 regardless of crime or age.

Not being executed if being treated like a criminal for years didn’t magically turn you into a model citizen.

Then again they’d probably taken their blood for granted too.

There’s just as much pain here, it’s just given to the Outsiders and hidden away as a shameful secret. The Ark made it public and available to everyone.

Maya wonders if there’s an option without pain.

That isn’t death.

When they put Cibber outside he almost dies, his system needing to work with what’s already there before it can start using the new. He does recover, burns not quite fading, but reducing in severity. Cage tells them to leave him out there. Indefinitely.

Cibber recovers enough to run, but the chip in his arm keeps recording his vitals so no one cares much. They can go collect him when they can walk outside for as long as they wish without danger.

Maya hopes he finds the chip and takes it out before that happens.

There’s nothing she can do for him now.

Not that there ever was.

 

Murphy smiles when he sees Bellamy, alone and angry.

Just his floating luck.

He’s not sure if it’s good or bad though.

He tosses the bag of supplies to the ground between them, adding the sword he’d attached to his belt after a moment and holding up his hands to show they’re empty. Murphy still has a knife tucked into the small of his back, he’s surrendering, not stupid.

Bellamy doesn’t say anything. He seems to be operating on the principle of ignore it and it might go away.

Murphy doesn’t like being ignored. “The Mountain took everyone. Atom, Mbege, all of them. Now I have a reason to join your pet crusade.”

“Why didn’t they take you?” Bellamy asks. “Make a deal with them too? Turn us over so you go free?”

“I hid under the floor,” Murphy says sarcastically, then rethinks it. “I mean, that’s what I actually did. Raven had pried up some of the dropship panels and I hid. Because I’m a coward.”

Bellamy doesn’t believe him. Of course he doesn’t, when has anyone believed it when Murphy told the truth?

“Okay, fine, I’m carrying a tracker and any moment now the Maunon will swoop out of the trees and take you all prisoner.” Murphy stops talking and looks around. “Uh, any moment now. Before Bellamy kills me, please?”

Nothing happens.

“If I sold you out, I’d be several miles away in the opposite direction,” Murphy tells him. “Not coming to warn you and setting myself up perfectly for them to take me anyway, but great suggestion, wish I’d thought of that before I got here.”

“You’re – I don’t have a word for what you are,” Bellamy says, lip curling in disgust. “You’re not welcome here. Leave the supplies though, they’ll at least be useful.”

It’s the first time in their – experience of each other that Murphy throws the first punch. Bellamy catches his wrist and sidesteps to pull it up tight behind Murphy’s back. It’s strange to be so in control while fighting him. He expects a verbal jab, something to make him angry. That’s Murphy’s usual game.

“I can be useful,” Murphy says instead. “Whatever you need. Hell, whatever you want. Wouldn’t be the first person I fucked in exchange for protection, that’d be Atom.”

“I don’t want to fuck you, Murphy. I want you gone. From this cave, from my life, from anything that could ever affect me or Octavia ever again.” Bellamy lets him go with a shove in the direction of the trees.

Murphy turns to roll his eyes at him. “If you’re still in denial about that, then fine, hurt me instead. Be a lot less into that on my side, but I seriously don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Go be a Grounder,” Bellamy orders. “They seem to quite like you for some reason.”

“Yeah, which is why I can’t go to them,” Murphy spits. “I’ll fuck it up. Get them all killed or hurt or something. I can’t inflict myself on someone I care about. You lot, I wouldn’t mind as much. Besides, you’ll at least try to stop me.”

Bellamy stares at him. “You – you’re aware? Like you know what you’re doing? You’re not some – some embodiment of chaos sent by an uncaring universe to torment me specifically?”

Murphy looks back as though Bellamy is an idiot. “Did you think I was having fun?! That I enjoy everyone hating me? That I don’t feel like utter shit for hiding while my – I can’t even call them my friends, because I never treated them well enough – while they were captured right where I could hear the whole thing? I’m aware, Bellamy. I’m aware I’m a bad person and that the shit I do drives people away and hurts them and that they’re better off if they just never met me or hated me right from the start, but I’m a bad person, so I’m selfish and sometimes I try – I try to be friends with people so I’m not alone, but I’m a bad person, so they get hurt and -”

“Shut up,” Bellamy tells him, backing it up with a threatening step in Murphy’s direction. “Being oblivious, that I could forgive, but being a bad person isn’t a fucking reason. You’ve always got a choice and you’ve chosen to be a bad person. I’ve done bad shit, but at the end of the day, I’m willing to change. I choose not to do that stuff again. Yeah, you’re a bad person. Now, stop it.”

Inexplicably smirking, Murphy steps forward too. “Oh, but you didn’t choose to stop. Clarke made you. Tell me it’s easy. Tell me you don’t instinctively reach for a weapon every time you think Octavia might be in danger. Tell me you haven’t lived your whole life protecting her and now, you don’t think her death might be the only thing to let you truly rest. I’m my own damn Octavia. I protect myself from pain. Emotional, not physical. People let you down, they leave, they end up hating you. Easier and less painful to keep them at a distance. Oh, but you, Bellamy, you just waltzed right in, made me care and then you let me down. You just _love hurting me_ and I – I don’t know if I want forgiveness or revenge, but I know I need something from you.”

“So, what? You won’t leave me alone until one of us is dead? Because I’m not forgiving you,” Bellamy snarls. “Go to Clarke if you want her to make you stop. If you aren’t strong enough to do it on your own. I’m not giving you anything.”

“But you will,” Murphy says, almost apologetically. “Because Clarke – Clarke scares me. If I let her she’d take everything. She’d be kind about it, never asking for more than I offer, but in the end I’d offer her anything, because I’d love her. You’ve already taken everything and thrown it aside. I can cope with you letting me down again. Giving up on helping me. I can’t set myself up for Clarke’s betrayal, because she’ll feel bad about it. That she wasn’t strong enough.”

“Clarke already feels bad about it,” Bellamy says.

Murphy winces, worse than he had in response to actual blows and hangs his head. “I’m willing to try,” he says quietly, “but I’m not willing to hurt anyone else when I fail. Try thinking of it as part of your service to the world for taking so many lives. You can kill me, add to your stupid tally, or you can send me away to cause trouble somewhere else to someone else, pretend that’s not your responsibility, that you didn’t have the chance to try and stop me or ...” He glances up at Bellamy, just long enough that Bellamy notices the glint of tears in his eyes. Crocodile or real, they’re effective. Murphy sounds half terrified, half bitter when he finishes, “Or you can help me by – by making the wrong choices feel like the harder more painful option. I mean, they already are, just longterm is tricky.”

“I was right,” Bellamy says, shaking his head. “You are a good negotiator. I should want you gone and screw whoever you go bother next, but I don’t. Instead I want to tell you to get on your knees and beg me for it, but giving you an order would be a yes. If Octavia wasn’t in Mount Weather ...”

“Octavia’s in Mount Weather?” Murphy looks up, bemused. “Did they install a special revolving door just for her?”

“Well, Jasper made it, but something like that,” Bellamy says, deliberately confusing him more. “She’s in there by choice, thinks she can assassinate Cage Wallace. Harper’s with her, but Clarke should have sent me, I can’t -” He takes a deep breath. “I’m going to make you regret asking for this. I’ve been in a place where I’m helpless to protect Octavia before. First time, I was on the Ark and I kept my head down so I’d live and then I shot Thelonious Jaha. Second time, I was on the Ground and I fought for control of the one hundred so they’d help me protect her and then I shot Wells Jaha. Kinda run out of Jahas now. Think about how much of my time and energy I’ve put into protecting Octavia and think about how much of that time and energy I’ve now got nowhere to direct and then think about how I wouldn’t be aiming to protect you. Then you decide if you still want me to say yes.”

“It’s perfect,” Murphy says, with a little grin.

 

“So, there’s a route from here to a store cupboard in the kitchens, then from the kitchens, as long as you time it right with the cameras, to the library and from the library to Monty’s room?” Harper asks, staring at the vent in the hole in Mount Weather. “But they’ve sealed it all off?”

“Not quite,” Octavia says, taking Harper’s hand and waving it across the opening. “They’ve turned off the air circulation to this section, no air flow, but the vents are still there. I mean, we’ll contaminate anything we touch or breath on or quite possibly look at, but that’s ... not really our problem. Long as we keep the breach quick, it should be limited to the kitchens and then to us. We’re not going to massacre them all in their sleep, just leave an invisible mess for them to clean up later.”

Harper sighs. “Someone’s going to have to get sick for them to even find the mess, unless we leave an also irradiated note telling them about it.”

“You can stop pointing out the collateral damage of this plan now, Harper,” Octavia says as she hoists herself into the vent. “Now shush, these echo in the weirdest ways.”

“I’m just making sure we understand the consequences,” Harper tells her. “We need to decide if we’re willing to trade that for Cage’s death. Personally, still entirely on board.”

Octavia doesn’t answer, already crawling away, so Harper pulls herself up to follow. Given quite how noisy Octavia had been in the forest, Harper can’t help but feel impressed at how silent she is here. There’s a handful of times where Harper’s the one to make a noise, just a quiet thump or clatter that’s both not sustained enough to draw suspicion and quieter than the random noises the vents make that startle Harper a few times.

Well, this makes her feel much less smug about Octavia’s woodcraft.

They reach the kitchens and drop out, both landing next to silently. Octavia reattaches the block, leaving it slightly loose.

“It needs to be closed fully, right?” Harper whispers.

Octavia shakes her head. “The breach alarms are going to give them that irradiated note in a few minutes, never got the chance to time it, if there’s nothing causing it, it looks weird. Vent upper right corner, by the door, keep low behind the counter, go ... now.”

Harper goes. Questioning or hesitating before following instructions like that is how you end up with a panther on your face. She stays down, head almost bumping against the fire extinguisher, waiting for Octavia to join her. Instead Octavia gestures for her to go up first. Okay, must only be space for one person in the blind spot.

Just as she starts to stand, Octavia hisses “wait” across the distance.

Okay, the vent isn’t in the blind spot.

Harper needs to get up, open the vent, get in and close the vent behind her before the camera passes back.

Easy. Sure. Can’t be harder than sitting perfectly still while an entire flock of crows came to roost in the tree she was hiding in and any movement she made would send the whole lot of them cawing back into the sky. She’d wanted to know how long she could do it for.

They’d mobbed her when she sneezed from a stray feather.

Except that hadn’t involved any movement.

Kind of the point actually.

Octavia signals and Harper moves on instinct. Finn gives the signal to move and she moves, freezing isn’t an option when anything could be about to be in the place she is in a few seconds. Mount Weather’s kitchen might not be in danger of falling boulders or charging boars, but if she pretends it is she can do this.

She has no way of knowing if she made it in time until Octavia joins her and even then they can’t be entirely sure either did. If they’ve screwed that up, they’ve already failed.

The alarm goes off.

Harper nearly panics until she remembers the radiation leak.

“Shit,” Octavia says and the panic rises again. “I didn’t think that you’d then be in front of me. Okay, it’s loud enough we can talk so I’ll direct you to the library. Alarm shuts off and I’ll have to like tap your legs or something.”

Harper starts breathing again. “Ready.”

The alarm does shut off, but they’re already in the final length to the library by then. Harper stretches in relief, lying on the library carpet. She’d like to go back to the nice friendly trees now.

Octavia steps over her with a grin. “We can talk safely in here, kinda. No cameras, no bugs. Climate control stuff messes with them or something. It’s the same where they store the art, though that’s bigger and you can actually hide if someone walks in. We only met here instead of there because of the route to Monty’s room. Speaking of ... uh, this is something I should really have mentioned to Clarke and you before now and Clarke is going to be so pissed if you tell her, but Monty’s room isn’t the final step.”

Harper sits up and folds her arms. “Octavia Blake, I’m going to be so pissed if there’s a danger you haven’t worked out a solution to.”

“Uhhh.” Octavia shrugs guiltily. “Monty’s room is part of the suite that includes Dante’s office and Cage’s room - it feels like I should say lair not room, more - anyway, there’s a corridor that connects all of those and it’s fully covered by cameras. But, before you get mad, I have a solution. I’m going to take down the entire camera system from the control room. Whichever of us goes to Monty’s room will know the cameras are down because the light on them will go off and uh, whoever goes to Monty’s room ... um.”

“Needs to make the kill,” Harper finishes. “Octavia, I’ve killed things before, maybe not people, but panthers are much more similar than you’d think, but Cage – he’s your villain. It needs to be your decision.”

“I can’t ask you to kill him for me,” Octavia says.

“Octavia, if you can’t do it, you’ll die. I won’t make it out of here without your help. It’s not just you I’d be killing him for.”

“I can do it,” Octavia tells her, firmly. “I will do it.”

 

Murphy waves incredibly awkwardly in greeting when Bellamy pushes him into the main cave where the others are sitting.

“Why? Just, why?” Jasper says, looking incredibly betrayed in Bellamy’s direction. “Don’t bring him inside. He’ll think he’s people.”

“He followed me home,” Bellamy replies deadpan. “He’s got fleas and he bites, but ... can I keep him?”

“No,” Raven says immediately, followed by general nodding.

“Ah, but have you considered,” Murphy says, walking further into the cave to be even more the center of attention, “that you’re the good guys and I’m kinda pathetic and in need of help and every single one of you has a savior's complex you can see from orbit.”

There’s silence as everyone processes this.

“Aha!” Murphy grins and twirls to face a scowling Bellamy with his arms crossed. The grin vanishes and Murphy quickly tries to look morose.

Bellamy groans and goes to stand next to Murphy. “I know I should be most against letting him back, but Octavia’s in Mount Weather again and my mother hen instincts have gone into overdrive. He cried at me. It was pathetic and, honestly, evil and manipulative too.”

Murphy shies away from Bellamy’s side, rubbing his once broken arm over the bandages. “Didn’t cry. Not really. Didn’t want you to see.”

Raven sighs. “Urgh, why do we have to be the good guys? Clarke, tell Bellamy to make him leave.”

“Murphy can stay,” Clarke says and that’s the final word on it, apparently. Until she grins and adds, “But, Bellamy, you’re responsible for him. Fleas and biting and all. Take him for walks and don’t let him on the furniture.”

“Seriously?” Murphy asks. “Seriously? I could have had this shit with Atom any time I wanted. You’re supposed to be nicer.”

“Boo hoo,” Raven tells him.

“Rude, but talking of Atom, I have some bad, but maybe not for you, news.”

 

Maya sleeps lightly, so when someone drops out of the air vent she awakens instantly. She feigns sleep, but when the door creaks open and the safety lights in the hallway illuminate their face, she sits up.

“Octavia!” Maya attempts to whisper and shout at the same time.

There’s a knife in Octavia’s hand when she turns at the noise and Maya shrinks back instinctively. A moment later Octavia recognizes her and rushes to pull her into an embrace.

“So, you know about Atom and the other Outsiders?” Maya asks, unable to think of another reason Octavia would be here.

“Atom and what?” Octavia says. “The guy at the dropship? Murphy’s ex? They have other Outsiders?”

Maya nods. “I don’t know about Murphy, but yes to all the rest. You’re not here to rescue them? No, of course not, why would you come to Monty’s room? Why have you come to Monty’s room?”

Octavia puts the knife away in her bra slightly sheepishly. “Cage. Uh, we figured killing him would solve a lot of problems.”

“Oh.” Maya thinks she needs to sit down. She is sitting down. “You’re ... very quick to turn to violence as a solution. You, um, Arkers.”

“Well, what’s your genius solution then? You Maunon are very quick to take my people prisoner and run experiments on them. Is that better because it’s all clinical?” Octavia goes to the door again. “Hurry up, Harper.”

“Harper?” Maya asks, it’s not a name she’s heard Octavia use before, though she’d read To Kill a Mockingbird and hadn’t quite understood it.

“One of Clarke’s people,” Octavia replies. “She’s taking the cameras out.”

Now Clarke is a name none of the three had ever shut up about. Maya thinks she’s glad at least Octavia found her again. Then again if she’s managed to get two people right into the heart of the Mountain without raising any alarm except a brief non-emergency radiation leak ...

Maybe Maya isn’t the enemy Cage should be worrying about.

“Jasper?” Maya says. “And Monty? Did they get out okay?”

“Yeah, met up with them at Lincoln’s cave.” Octavia is completely distracted, assuming knowledge Maya just doesn’t have. “They’re still there with the others. After Wells ditched us and the camp stopped being an option, plus Atom’s idiots moved in there, we made it our base. Not that the options were great. Maybe the bunker Finn found has like actual beds, that’d make up for it being a bunker ...”

“You can’t kill Cage,” Maya says abruptly, realizing that might be an important fact. “Well, you can, probably, but that won’t stop anything. Doctor Tsing has already found a solution. Bone marrow. She’s been harvesting it from, uh, Atom’s idiots and well, it’s not going to be enough. They’ve taken as much as they can without outright killing them, but it’ll take far too long to regrow and – and it’ll take years to grow enough for everyone. Especially when they keep losing them.”

“Losing them?” Now Maya has Octavia’s attention. “How many are dead and how many are left?”

“They’ve lost three that I’ve seen and they won’t let me near where they’re keeping them, but I’ve watched experiments on eight different people that survived. There’s a little girl too, Charlotte, younger than the rest, they haven’t touched her yet.”

Octavia rubs her forehead with the hand not holding the knife. “This isn’t my ... thing ... this is Clarke’s thing. Or Monty and Jasper, they’re good at plans, just not individually. I just do what they say. I don’t know what to do. I’m ... I’m just here to kill Cage.”

Maya doesn’t think she’s amazingly good at planning herself. “Then kill Cage. It’ll still be a blow, even if it doesn’t stop everything. What’s your escape route?”

“Same way we came in, vents and Jasper’s hole, only faster and caring less if the camera in the kitchen sees us since it won’t be on.”

“Meeting point with Harper?”

“Library.”

Maya nods. “We’re not going. We’ll work out something when we can get Harper’s view. Right now, you need to finish the job Clarke gave you and I’m coming with you.”

 

“You want Mount Weather.” Indra stares at Wells, making him feel like she’s about to squash him like a mosquito.

“Not all of it, not the Maunon bunker. Just the land. It doesn’t belong to anyone, the moment the Maunon fall, that land will be contested. Your neighbors, Azgeda to the north, Podakru to the south, they’re all going to want a piece of it. Even though it was your war that won it. And you don’t have the people to colonize it. Not before the second war over that damned mountain starts.

“Half your people, Coalition people, think it’s cursed and the other half will think they want it. You can march an army to war on cursed ground, but can you build a village? It looks appealing, if you’re practical, like yourself, but how many Kalis do you have among your people? How many will refuse to set foot there? How many will be driven off by nothing but the wind in the branches?

“Skaikru, we’re cursed too. We have no fear of Maunon magics, because we have our own. What we don’t have is a home. Right now, we’re occupying your land at your mercy and your expense. We are grateful and our friendship will always lie with Trikru for your generosity. But you want us gone. And we want somewhere we can build towards repaying the charity you have shown us.

“All we ask is that you support Skaikru’s claim on the surface, only the surface, of Mount Weather when our ambassador takes this petition to the Commander.”

Indra raises an eyebrow. “Skaikru’s ambassador?”

“I will be serving in that role, until a suitable, older replacement can be found. The loss of the majority of our council ... well, everyone must do what they can, even if not yet ready.”

There’s a pause, then Indra leans towards Abby. “Can I steal this one to be my seken as well?” she asks with a humor Wells hadn’t expected.

Abby smiles fondly. “No, we very much want to keep him.”

“Do you have to act like I’m - like you did when I did the Unity Day parade speech every time I have a conversation about the futures of our people?” Wells asks her, mortified.

“Not yet ready,” Indra says, shaking her head. “Oh, they’re going to love you in Polis, all that talking that they pretend is about nothing and then that affects where we, who do the actual fighting, have to go. They’ll underestimate you, boy, think you’re a joke, a puppy trained to sit up on his hind legs. You can use that.”

“I know,” Wells says, to more strangely parental pride.

“Your seken will make a great bandrona,” Indra tells Abby.

“He’s not my ...” Abby thinks about it for a moment. “His father was the one to teach him this, I taught Clarke medicine instead. Fixing, you call it? It seems they’ve both surpassed us. Wells running rings around Thelonious in a meeting and Clarke with her own, er, kru of people who fix things.”

Wells smiles at that. “I doubt either of you will always approve of our methods and therefore will not tell you about them, but ... thank you for – for teaching us to help. To want to help. To put others first.”

“It’s not always a blessing,” Abby warns him. “It’ll bring you so much pain.”

“I know that too.” Wells glances at Indra, but decides not to specifically mention Murphy, even with Losi right next to her because he’d sent her back safely with a murderer Wells had helped escape. “I’ve also seen what happens to people who don’t. I’d rather pain than loneliness.”

Abby hugs him and doesn’t ask.

 

Miller is not thinking about Murphy.

He’s very busy rethinking sleeping arrangements based on the fact that Murphy exists in their presence again.

Which is a completely different thing.

It’s mainly complicated by the fact Bellamy now needs to be sandwiched between Octavia and Murphy. Probably. Or maybe Murphy should be as far away from Bellamy as possible. Probably. Or maybe Murphy should be kept chained to the wall and Miller should be basing this on suitable anchoring points instead.

Probably.

He kind of wishes Bellamy and Murphy would just have their damn fight to the death already and cut his headache in half. He’s honestly not sure who he wants to win.

Like on one hand Bellamy can be good company, but on the other Murphy is too incompetent to actually murder someone.

It’s a huge relief when Monty sits down next to him.

“Octavia doesn’t know the Mountain has gotten hold of more Arkers,” Monty says. “Jasper’s busy pouting that he doesn’t get to be Bellamy’s whatever, pet project, and you’re the most sensible person here. We need to change the plan, even though it’s already over, and then we need to get a message to Octavia and Harper so they know the plan has changed. If they kill Cage - I don’t know exactly what they’ll do to the captives, but ...”

Okay, maybe not a relief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point I was pretty damn sure this wasn't the last we'd heard from Kane. Now, a hundred thousand words through the sequel I'm tempted to just give up on him completely. Would solve everyone a lot of hassle.
> 
> Bellamy gives me the best chances to history/archaeology nerd.
> 
> A note on geography: I fucked up. I have a map now, that I made up, but I, uh, didn't know about Michigan when I was looking to place Podakru. Anyway, long story short, Michigan is now a frozen wasteland and the location of the Azgeda capital. Wells severely underestimates how far south Trikru goes (Podakru being a tiny bite out of one side) and how close Mount Weather is to Azgeda (directly north of Mount Weather is Delfikru, Azgeda is even more north, they neighbor Trikru on the other side of Louwoda Kliron which is a long thin cut ending about halfway through Trikru in the south and a little way into Delfikru in the north. Delfikru has no border with Azgeda, just Trishana in the north west and The Dead Zone in the north east.)
> 
> In other words, it's going to take until like chapter nine in the sequel before someone tells Wells to look at a damn map and he finally gets an idea of where stuff actually is.
> 
> Because I hadn't done that until then.
> 
> Whoo, writing!
> 
> Murphy has requested to join Team: Fuck Up Mount Weather
> 
> Bellamy: No.  
> Murphy: I'm pathetic tho
> 
> Bellamy has accepted Murphy's request
> 
> Jasper: Uh, does Bellamy even have admin privileges and if so, why?  
> Raven: Just a sec  
> Raven: Now he doesn't  
> Murphy: I'm still here  
> Raven: Clarke, kick him  
> Clarke: He can stay  
> Murphy: HA, I win  
> Bellamy: No. You really don't


	12. Wanripa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanripa - death killer. Lincoln 'died' to become a Reaper and then he 'died' to become himself again.
> 
> Korokyona - one who keeps the heart going. Heartstarter. Monty Green.

It is traditional for Banaronas to have a small retinue.

Wells’ first shop for his is the prison.

Lincoln is apparently as much of a confusing subject to the Grounders as Bellamy had been to the Delinquents. Indra says he’s not committed any direct treason and every accusation leveled against him, even the deaths of the three guards that Wells saw, has a complete lack of reliable witnesses.

Indra hadn’t known she was calling Wells an unreliable witness, but honestly, he would be one.

He’d happily let Murphy or Bellamy take the fall for those murders. Mainly because he knows they’re uncontrollable. Lincoln though ... Lincoln could be useful.

Indra had been about as relieved when Wells offered to take him off her hands as he had when she offered to take Murphy.

Neither the Ark camp nor the Grounder camp had an official prison, so they’d agreed on a segment of Mecha station that had fallen about equal distance between them and given it a mix of Grounder and Arker guards.

Wells is surprised to find it has more than one occupant.

He decides to approach the boy, one of the Delinquents he’s sure, he can’t remember a name, but he looks familiar. Why approach Lincoln directly if he can get him to volunteer?

Or at least persuade him without him knowing he’s being persuaded.

“Hey,” Wells says to the Delinquent. “What happened?” He turns to the nearest guard. “Why wasn’t I informed about this earlier?”

The guard stammers something like an apology. Not that Wells had any right to know, but people tell you a lot when you act like you do.

“Never mind,” Wells dismisses the guard with a wave of his hand and the guard actually leaves him alone with the pair. Why would the Chancellor’s son act like he could give orders if he couldn’t?

“Are you okay?” He smiles at the Delinquent. “Did they tell you why you’re here?”

“I’m Mike,” the Delinquent tells him. “Gabe’s the one that died. I’m allowed to be alive. I’m Mike.”

Now Wells remembers. The boy that had collapsed during the march. Mike Bodowski? Bogdonovon? What’s more important is that he was a twin. Mike and Gabe. He’s very sure the one that died was Mike, which means Gabe has a reason to lie about that.

Twins.

Makes Wells shudder just to think of it.

“Okay, Mike,” Wells says, putting an emphasis on the name. “Who told you you weren’t allowed to be alive?”

He’s half forgotten about Lincoln, this is weirder and finding out the story will give him some practice at interrogation.

“The guard when they scanned us,” Gabe tells him. “Only Mike exists. No Gabe and it doesn’t matter because Gabe’s dead. But they still wouldn’t let me in. Even though I told them I’m Mike.”

Oh. Okay. Wells can see how that happened. He also sees how putting the problem in a cage and hoping it resolves itself is a pretty popular tactic. He can’t even imagine how much this is messing with Gabe’s head.

“Well, Mike,” he says. “I don’t think that’s very fair. All the crimes we committed have been pardoned. That includes the crime of being born. Octavia Blake, you’ve heard about her, she’s just as much a citizen of the Ark as I am, now.”

Lincoln shifts and Wells’ smile becomes more genuine, now he knows he’s listening.

“This is a mistake. You’re not supposed to be in here, Mike, and if Gabe had survived, he shouldn’t be in here either. Doesn’t matter what the file says, you are both pardoned. I’m going to fix this.”

“We should have stayed with Atom,” Gabe says, tears forming. “He’d be alive and we’d both be free.”

Damn. It’s too risky to set Gabe free if he’s going to make the other Delinquents think Atom and Clarke had the right idea. Any desertions over this will put those deserters in danger from Mount Weather. Wells needs to keep this whole thing out of the public eye.

But he can’t leave Gabe here. He hasn’t told him a single lie.

Except calling him Mike.

And Gabe had started that.

“I’m going on a trip, Mike, and I’m going to need people I can trust at my back. Can I trust you, Mike?”

Gabe nods quickly. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to make a – a suggestion to the Grounders. To their leader. And if the Heda takes my suggestion we’ll all have somewhere new to live and we can change things. Having a brother won’t be a shameful thing any more, it’ll be celebrated. And I’m offering you the chance to help me make that happen, Mike. No more Gabes dying for an outdated rule. Do you accept?”

Gabe frowns. “I don’t know if I’m much use. M- Gabe was the one who was good at useful stuff. Maths mostly, physics. I just like animals. Not many of those on the Ark, huh?”

Lots of them on the Ground, though. Eh, it doesn’t truly matter, Wells will either find a use for him or keep him busy with something he thinks is a use. The priority is not letting him spread discontent.

Wells leans closer as though to tell Mi- Gabe a secret. “They offered me a horse for the march and I turned it down I was so terrified of it.” Not of the horse, but what it symbolized. “I can’t keep doing that, you know? If you’re willing to help me with that it’d be great.”

Gake lights up as though Wells just offered him a share in a very legitimate business proposal concerning a tourist landmark. “I’d love to!”

Wells could get this kid to do anything. Luckily for the kid, all he wants is him somewhere marginally less inconvenient. He calls the guard back and orders Mike released. Yeah, he’s probably going to have to figure out a way to stop calling him Mike at some point.

Not a major priority.

Lincoln though ...

 

Raven goes through the supplies while Clarke pretends to help and instead gives Bellamy and Murphy unasked for advice.

“- all I’m saying,” Clarke says, as though she can sum up everything she wants to say briefly, “is that this needs to be about trust and neither of you trust each other at all!”

“Murphy doesn’t trust anyone,” Bellamy points out. “He’s giving me a second chance because it’ll hurt him less if I let him down again. Besides, if I screw this up he’ll try to kill me, so I’m highly motivated to succeed.”

Clarke sighs and turns to try and argue Murphy out of it instead. “Do you understand exactly what you’re agreeing to? You’re giving up the control over your own choices. How far does that go? Like Finn, he’s given up the choice to not tell the whole truth. What choices are you giving up?”

With a shrug, Murphy answers, “All of them. Done a pretty shit job on my own.”

“That’s not a small decision to make!” Clarke says, trying desperately to prevent future murder.

Raven thinks this could work.

With close supervision.

“You brought my toolbox?” she asks Murphy in surprise.

Murphy shrugs again. “Yeah. You need it.”

Raven looks at him, obviously evaluating him. “That was thoughtful. Thank you.”

Her thanks make him look even more uncomfortable than Clarke’s well meaning insults. “Don’t,” Murphy says. “I didn’t do it to be nice. Did it so you might be on my side a bit.”

“Yeah, but you, like, remembered,” Raven points out. “You care more than you pretend.”

“I notice stuff, little things I can use to manipulate, that’s all,” Murphy argues, really unwilling to let her think he might have ever done a good thing in his entire life. “I remembered so I could use it against you.”

She looks him directly in the eye. “If the end result is me with my toolbox and grateful to you, what does it matter if your goal was to manipulate me into liking you or to befriend me? Really, what’s the difference?”

Murphy stares at her, thinking that through. “I like you, Reyes, just, you tried to force me into making this choice before I, no, not even before I was ready. I turned you down because you gave me a time limit. I’d have said yes if you’d asked politely. So, I’m not sure I want to be your friend. Very sure I don’t want you as an enemy. So, I’ll stick with the manipulation until I know for sure.”

Raven grins at him. He doesn’t forgive easily, but he’s as good as said he’s willing to, because he wants to be her friend. More importantly he’s telling her the truth. The parts he thinks she doesn’t want to hear and the parts that don’t make him look great.

Though not the whole truth.

“You’re a lot like Finn,” Raven tells him, amused at his look of horror at the accusation. “Finn tells just enough truth to make himself look good. You tell just enough truth to make yourself look bad. Thank you - for the toolbox.”

Murphy tilts his head at her in utter confusion.

Oh, yeah, he can probably read how she feels or whatever bullshit. It’s a little bit pathetic that he’s confused by someone liking him for his personality, but then again he’s got a hell of a personality. One carefully designed so people wouldn’t like it. Raven shouldn’t like it.

Then again, she’s never been amazingly good at believing in shouldn’t.

 

Wells sends Gabe/Mike off to find Jones with a message that explains he’s joining them.

Jones is solid, he won’t ask questions and he’ll take Gabe/Mike at his word until Wells shows up to confirm. Wells trusts him more than he had trusted Miller. They’re both smarter than they seem, but Miller wants to know the why of things and he’ll refuse orders until he gets it. That’s great for Clarke’s honesty at all costs policy, but Wells is more pragmatic.

Beside Clarke herself, the ones from Clarke’s kru Wells most wishes he could take with him are Finn and Harper. Information gathering is going to be vital and Harper’s the best at going unnoticed or at least she’s the best at going unnoticed that Wells has noticed. Finn, though, Finn is an amazing liar and manipulator and Clarke is trying to train that out of him. It’s a waste of a natural talent. He shouldn’t be sitting around in trees, waiting for something to throw a stick at, he should be at Wells’ side in Polis, charming the Grounders and blushing prettily when it works.

But of course Finn’s loyalties lie firmly with Raven and Clarke. Neither of whom Wells would want with him on this trip.

That is, he wants Clarke. Craves having her by his side. But she’s not good at this. She’s too direct, too honest, too unwilling to kneel. She’s a great leader and a terrible ambassador.

She wouldn’t make the right first impression.

Clarke can be introduced later, their warrior princess, maybe queen by that point, no, having her appear as third in their ranks, with out of his depth Chancellor Jaha and kind, practical Doctor Griffin above her to theoretically offer control of Clarke to anyone who can control either of them - Hainofi Clarke will be a hero, confident in her strength and courage, but Haiplana Clarke would be dangerous, arrogant in her victory and hungry for further conquest.

They will not think either option intelligent.

She must be seen as another Indra or Anya, quick to temper or violence, but with little head for these political games, little interest in what her ambassador arranges and no ambitions beyond winning the next fight.

Of course, neither Indra nor Anya are truly that either. A major part of this game is pretending not to know how to play. Which is why Wells needs to approach this as if absolutely anyone can be an opponent.

Even Lincoln.

“I wanted to thank you for bringing Losi back,” Wells opens with. “Clarke - that can’t have been an easy choice, who to send given what she’s facing.”

“She said Murphy instantly,” Lincoln tells him.

Wells winces. “And I am incredibly grateful to you for sparing me that.”

“Octavia Blake isn’t Skaikru,” Lincoln says next, throwing Wells off balance.

“I’m sorry.” Wells falls back on his training. “I don’t quite follow.”

“You told Mike that Octavia Blake was as much Skaikru as you are, but Octavia Blake isn’t Skaikru. She’s ... Clarkru. What does that make you?”

“Clarkru,” Wells answers without hesitation. “Though I really don’t think she’d like it being called that. I’ll have to figure out a name, something that connects them to both the sky and Mount Weather. A name we can all use in Polis. Something to mean Arker, but using the naming conventions of the Grou- of the Coalition.”

“And you’re not Skaikru,” Lincoln says.

He’s impossible to read. Completely neutral expression, tone and body language. Wells is just going to have to keep going until Lincoln gives him something he can use. He doesn’t know much about the man. Bellamy had quite liked him, not a recommendation Wells is willing to go on given the second thing he knows.

Lincoln is a killer. Like Bellamy only calmer and more efficient. Wells very much hopes he won’t need a killer, but he’s not going into enemy territory to play his very first real game of diplomacy without one. Like taking a pill before sex even though you know she’s got an implant.

The mother of the Chancellor’s son’s bastard isn’t an amazing status, but it’s better than most.

“Skaikru means Delinquent,” Wells says. “Skaikru betrayed your trust when their Tekamin sent a magical spy into your camp. Skaikru failed to inform you more were coming. Skaikru invaded Trikru land. Skaikru are a group of criminals even their own didn’t want. Clarkru belong to Clarke. She’s too good a leader to let them know she’s ours.” He knows he’s taking a risk giving Lincoln this much in exchange for nothing, but he wants Lincoln to trust him. He means him no harm.

“You’ll think of something,” Lincoln says and that Wells can use. He thinks Wells will be the one to make that choice. That Wells is in a position to make that choice and have it carried out.

Wells agrees.

“What do you want from me?” Lincoln asks, not bothering to add the obvious bit about Wells not being here to pick his brains on kru naming suggestions.

Wells doesn’t deny anything. Only do that if it’s an actual accusation and even then only if you’re not guilty. Neither option is the same as confessing.

“I want you to come with me to Polis. I want someone more familiar with the culture, who knows how to keep his mouth shut, who would protect a child, any child, with his life, who has confused Trikru enough they don’t know what to do with him, who is familiar with Mount Weather and the horrors it has caused, who is already becoming legend, Wanripa they’re calling you, who died and became a Reaper and died and became human again and that legend is one of Skaikru, for want of a better term, magic. Korokyona's Skaitek. New and different from Mauntek. Healing instead of harming. You’re a powerful symbol, Lincoln, of our ability to win this war and our willingness to give.

“That’s how I can use you, but the reason I feel I can ask you is because Finn Collins considers you a friend. Finn’s a good man, a bit of an idealist and he still believes in chivalry, which is why I trust his judgement. He doesn’t do well with grey morality, thinks in black and white, so if he thinks you’re a good person it means you are.

“I miss him. He’s my moral compass. Keeping his good opinion makes it easier not to go too far. Float us all if he ever finds himself that righteous cause he’s looking for, though. And don’t let him make the plan.”

Lincoln doesn’t immediately give a yes or no. “Mount Weather isn’t that cause?”

“No. He’s there for Clarke and Raven and they’re going to wind up doing some things he won’t approve of. Innocents, in his eyes, are going to get hurt or killed and it’s going to break his heart. I wish I could spare him that, but all I can do is be there, as someone who hasn’t gone too far, to pick up the pieces. Lincoln can you help me not go too far? For Finn.”

“I’ve gone too far myself to,” Lincoln says, betraying a bit of sadness for the first time. “Even before Mount Weather.”

“Then a deal,” Wells says, offering his hand between the bars to shake. “I keep you from killing everyone in Polis and you keep me from ever asking you to.”

Lincoln smiles and takes Wells’ hand.

 

Octavia offers Maya the knife. It’s more of a shiv, a thin spike made by grinding down the edges of a dinner knife. Maya shakes her head.

“I can’t,” she admits. “If I could I’d have done it the day he killed my father. I’m not afraid of dying, not for this cause, but I can’t kill for it. Both my parents died for it, my mother refusing treatment, but they never hurt anyone. I won’t either.”

“That’s great,” Octavia says sarcastically, “but for those of us in the real world where we actually want to make things change, sometimes you need to get a little violent. Ever heard of Achilles? Hiding in his tent when he could have made a difference, right up until he lost Patrocleus and saw his mistake.”

“Of course,” Maya replies, “but that war wasn’t won by Achilles. Achilles didn’t even live to see its end. It was Odysseus’ horse that defeated Troy. A gift, concealing death.”

“Are you Odysseus or the horse?” Octavia asks as Maya binds her hands with one of Monty’s ties.

“Well, I don’t much fancy wandering lost for ten years, so I hope I’m the horse,” Maya jokes. 

Octavia makes sure she can still let her shiv drop out of her sleeve, then smiles. “Giddy up.”

 

Finn and Jasper sit together, scowling in Murphy’s direction.

“Oh, he got Raven’s toolbox,” Finn says mockingly. “How romantic.”

“Why does Bellamy keep touching his shoulder?” Jasper asks. “It’s not like he’s able to run. Not that anyone would stop him if he did.”

“Definitely not,” Finn agrees. “I mean, no one likes him. He’s an ass.”

Jasper nods seriously. “It’s, like, why does anyone even care about him at all? In the Skybox, everyone knew he was going to be floated the second he turned eighteen and was therefore a temporary annoyance.”

“And now he just won’t leave!” Finn crosses his arms angrily. “He went over to the enemy yesterday and he’s already back!”

“Who’s to say he won’t do it again the moment Bellamy looks away?” Jasper asks. “I, for one, do not feel safe with him here, even with Bellamy keeping an eye on him.”

“Clarke can’t do everything at once either,” Finn agrees morosely.

Miller clears his throat. “If you two are willing to take a break from bitching about Murphy stealing your crushes’ attention, me and Monty are trying to save lives.”

 

Indra had recommended Wells take four people. Not too few that he seems he’s alone far from home, but not too many as to make people nervous.

Jones had been an easy call, Lincoln a decision made after some deliberation, Mike/Gabe something of an accident in a bid for quick damage control.

He’s picking the fourth because he wants to.

Finding Kath again isn’t difficult. Wells knocks on the door of one of the group dorms that had been offered to those Delinquents without families to take them in. Whoever she’d come back for hadn’t been here.

The girl that opens the door looks at him like he’s from another planet when he asks for Kath, but she yells over her shoulder, “Kath! Wells floating Jaha is asking for you by name! What the hell did you do?”

“She threatened to poison me actually,” Wells tells the girl with a little grin. It doesn’t help.

Kath pushes the girl out of the way of the door, then pulls the door partially closed so it’s between Wells and the rest of the room. “Ignore Alicia,” Kath tells him. “She’s just bitter because her girlfriend was on Factory.”

Wells hasn’t the faintest idea what Alicia’s girlfriend has to do with him knowing Kath’s name. “Uh ... How do you tell a girl you talked to once that her threat on your life has convinced you she’s the perfect person for a diplomatic mission into a completely alien culture? “Did the sock thing help?”

Kath giggles at him and nods.

Okay, apparently he doesn’t need to go all the way to Polis to find an alien culture, there’s one right here. Lincoln had been easier than this, he might not have given much away, but at least what he gave made sense. He’d think they were having two different conversations if it wasn’t for the fact that all they’d covered was Alicia’s girlfriend and socks.

“Um, I kinda wanted to ask you something, Kath,” Wells says hesitantly. “Would you, I mean only if you want, would you-”

“Yes!” Kath says before he can finish.

“You want to come to Polis with me?” Wells asks, surprised. “As part of the diplomatic group?”

Kath’s eyes bug as she nods. “Yup, absolutely what I meant. And knew you were going to ask. I’d love to - be a diplomat.”

Wells gives up. It’s not like he’s got any better suggestions and with Mike/Gabe and Kath on the team there’s absolutely no chance of anyone thinking he’s competent. “Great,” he says with a smile. “We’re riding out tomorrow morning and I do mean riding, so horses will be involved. Wear thick trousers and a skirt over that if you can.”

“Like the socks,” Kath says, face still contorted strangely.

Wells gives up even more. “Like the socks.”

“I’ll see you in the morning, bye!” Kath tells him rapidly, then closes the door in his face.

“Bye?” Wells asks the door, then turns to go.

Behind him he hears a shriek from either Kath or Alicia and speeds up to escape.

At least Alicia won’t be in Polis.

Kath had seemed perfectly sensible the first time they’d talked and Alicia has to be the variable factor.

She’ll start acting normally soon.

Or Wells is joining Mike/Gabe in the going insane camp.

 

Maya shoves Octavia into Dante’s office and Cage stands, reaching for the alarm button before he realises Octavia is Maya’s prisoner and his hand drops.

“She came through the vents, sir,” Maya tells him, allowing her panic and fear to colour her voice. “Right into my room. I pretended to be asleep, took her by surprise.”

“Bitch!” Octavia spits. “Jasper loved you!”

“Jasper’s the reason my father’s dead!” Maya yells back. “If he hadn’t helped you ...” Her eyes fill with tears. “I’m sorry, President Wallace, sir. I thought if I confessed you’d punish me instead, but ... but -” She shoves Octavia further into the room. “I want to see the Surface. A few Outsiders - the same that killed Carter and tried to blow us all up - they deserve to die and if those deaths can save us, that’s even better.”

Octavia stumbles a little. Maya catches her. Octavia kicks. Maya’s knees collapse.

Maya had assumed she’d be acting for this bit, but Octavia gets her on her back, hands at her throat, easily.

Now they just have to hope Cage cares enough to come to Maya’s rescue, without using a gun for fear of killing Octavia accidentally, or calling the guards.

Clearly Cage doesn’t feel the need to ask for help taking down one bound, unarmed girl.

Idiot.

It’s what kills him.

Cage looms over them, reaching for Octavia.

Maya watches in slow motion.

Octavia lets the shiv drop into her hand.

She’s smiling when she brings it up.

The shiv goes into Cage’s neck just below his chin.

Up at an angle.

Octavia pulls it back down with both hands.

The blood anoints her.

Cage collapses sideways, unable to make a noise, blood bubbling up to drown him.

A drop of blood from the shiv drips onto Maya’s cheek to roll down like a tear.

Maya screams.

 

“Behave,” Bellamy tells Murphy when Jasper and Finn run over, jostling shoulders, to tell them Miller is calling a meeting.

“Or what?” Murphy asks automatically, he’s not quite dumb enough to go into this with the intention of causing trouble.

Bellamy is in no floating mood for tolerating any amount of time wasted on Murphy. Octavia is in danger she doesn’t even know about, he’s furious at her for going in, Clarke for letting her, Atom for getting captured, Cage for being the danger and Murphy just volunteered to let Bellamy take that anger out on him.

“Say one more thing that I don’t approve of, for whatever reason, and I’ll gag you,” Bellamy tells him, then pushes past to join the meeting circle.

Murphy follows a moment later, in silence. He knows Bellamy isn’t bluffing. He stays quiet even when everyone looks at him expecting something stupid.

“Small miracles,” Jasper mutters and Bellamy considers threatening to gag him too.

“Suggestions?” Bellamy asks instead. It’s himself he’s most angry at, so caught up in floating Murphy he’d missed the danger to Octavia. “Can we send more people after her?”

Clarke shakes her head. “We have Octavia’s maps, but they’re not comprehensive and you’d need to read them in near darkness, some of the notes are essential and they only cover the vents, not the rooms.”

“Me and Jasper know the rooms, partially,” Monty suggests.

“But do you know exactly where Octavia went?” Clarke asks. “Even if you got in and could find your way, there’s no certainty you’ll be able to meet up with Octavia and Harper.”

“Thank you,” Finn says, “for remembering Harper is in there too.”

“So someone gets captured on purpose, finds a way to get a message to her from inside,” Bellamy says. “I’ll go.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Murphy snaps and the whole group seems to freeze.

“Mur-” Bellamy starts.

Murphy having already messed up decides to go all out. “You don’t need to get anyone inside. Just the message. So we leave a message. If they’re still monitoring the dropship we can paint something. We know you have our people or whatever. It could cause enough fuss in the Mountain that it’ll get to Octavia.”

Monty raises his hand. “Murphy, if they’re still monitoring the dropship, why didn’t they take you captive? Like do you have any reason to think they are?”

Now Murphy is hesitating again. Bellamy rolls his eyes, then grabs Murphy’s hair and yanks his head back as far as it will go. “Answer Monty’s question,” Bellamy says, apparently calm.

“You didn’t want me to talk earlier,” Murphy points out.

Bellamy moves as if to stand, still gripping his hair.

“There were cameras,” Murphy says quickly. “I didn’t notice until I was ready to leave, but I went before anyone showed up. I wasn’t followed and I made sure to leave in the wrong direction, made it look like I went after the Grounders. With the tracks Wells and Indra left, there’s no reason for them to come after a single stray, even if they think I might lead them to more and everyone else is well out of range. I didn’t say because - because you’d be mad I put you in danger.”

Letting Murphy go with a shove forward, Bellamy sits back. “Anyone got any more questions before I gag him?”

Clarke holds up a hand to Bellamy and addresses Murphy, “I just want you to know, we wouldn’t have been mad about putting us in danger with that. The moment you stepped out of the dropship it was too late to avoid the cameras and you took every precaution you could. Thank you. Any punishment Bellamy decides on will be for hiding it from us. Okay?”

Murphy looks up at her warily, then nods.

“Someone give Murphy something so he can draw the layout and cameras,” Raven orders and Finn is up in a second.

In the pause, Murphy looks sideways at Bellamy. “Blake,” he says carefully, “I’m pretty sure I said something you didn’t like.”

“Is there anything else important you decided not to tell us?” Bellamy asks.

Murphy thinks carefully. “Um, I think one of Atom’s killed or injured one of theirs. There was a sword with blood on it in one of the tents. Doubt that’ll make Mount Weather feel particularly kindly towards us. I don’t think there’s anything else.” He takes Lincoln’s notebook and a pencil from Finn. “Where the hell did you find this?”

“Art supply store,” Finn replies flippantly.

Murphy opens his mouth to say something no doubt equally unhelpful and Bellamy loops a scrap of cloth over his head, pulling it tight. It’s not amazingly effective, Murphy could speak through it if he tried, just a bit awkwardly, plus there’s nothing to stop him just taking it off. What it is is humiliating and a reminder not to try unless necessary, that he’s accepting this. He ducks his head and focuses on drawing the map Raven had requested. It’s a relief when the group decides to deal with the awkwardness by pretending it isn't happening.

Atom would have made sure everyone joined in with the humiliation.

Murphy hopes he’s alive.

He misses him.

“There’s much more I can do with cameras than just wave a banner in front of them,” Raven says, grinning, finally some tech. “We could set a trap, make it look like some of us just got back and take some of theirs prisoner for once. I can get into their signal, see what they’re seeing from wherever, though I’d need a screen, there’s one in the dropship. I might be able to control what they see, but the dropship doesn’t have much of a computer and nothing to record onto - except Jaha sent a recording - if I put empty camp over that we could come and go as we wanted and nothing to tell them any different!”

“Raven, calm down,” Clarke says, smiling at her enthusiasm. “Octavia and Harper are the priority. We might have already lost them.” Everyone’s smiles fade. “Sorry, but the cameras will still be there later. We need to act now.”

Jasper stands up. “Clarke, give me my sword. I’m going in after them. There’s a hole I can walk right through. I made it. We blow the first door we find, get inside, the radiation kills them.”

“No,” Clarke tells him.

“You gonna stop me?” Jasper asks. “I don’t need you to give it back, Murphy helpfully brought more weapons.” He strides in that direction, but only gets a few steps before falling on his face.

Murphy pulls his foot back and gives off a general air of smirking.

“Jasper,” Monty says, but Jasper is already up and lunging at Murphy who defends himself.

Bellamy and Miller pull the pair apart. Murphy immediately goes still, but Miller doesn’t let him go, not while Jasper is fighting against Bellamy. Raven and Clarke are saying something about calming down, talking over each other in a way that only adds to the confusion. Miller glances to Monty for help, but he’s staring off to the side at a patch of sand.

Instead it’s Finn that steps in front of Jasper, blocking his view of anyone else. “Look, my partner is in there too,” Finn says, “but we won’t do anyone any good getting ourselves killed. They have guns and we don’t know they haven’t found a way to use Atom’s people so the radiation won’t hurt them.” He takes a deep breath. “There’s children in there, Jasper. We’d kill them too.”

That’s what makes Jasper stop. Finn opens his arms and Bellamy lets Jasper fall into the hug.

Miller lets Murphy go slowly, ready to grab him again if necessary.

The gag had slipped during the brief fight and now Murphy seems happy to talk. “Take that fucking lab coat off!”

“Stand down, Murphy,” Miller says at exactly the same time as Bellamy.

Murphy doesn’t, instead he shoves forward and tries to take it. “It’s m-”

Miller pulls him back and Bellamy steps forward to use the momentum to hit Murphy hard across the face.

Murphy takes the hit without acknowledgement, though his head is knocked to the side. “It’s messing with his head,” he says, “and it’s disgusting. You should be surrounded by flies and hungry panthers, but there’s something in that blood that’s keeping everything away. The hell did you kill?”

Jasper meets Murphy’s eyes over Finn’s shoulder. “Reapers.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Murphy tries to throw his hands up, but Miller definitely isn’t letting go this time. “Dig a deep hole and bury it, I don’t trust the smoke it’d make. Unless the _chemist_ has any better suggestions. You knew Cage was using some weird drugs and you decided to wear the blood of the people he used them on?!”

Finn helps Jasper out of the lab coat. He holds it at arms length until Raven finds a bit of sacking and they wrap it in that. Monty jumps up to help them, babbling something unintelligible, when they head for the exit.

Murphy and Jasper’s eye contact turns into something less of a dare and more of an oh shit.

 

Octavia puts a hand over Maya’s mouth and starts singing a lullaby. It’s confusing enough that Maya goes quiet.

“There see,” Octavia says comfortingly, “not so bad. The floor - I mean, Cage - I mean - I’m not going to let anything hurt you. Ever.”

She’s channeling Bellamy and her mother Maya realizes. Only comfort she knows about. Be quiet or we’re dead. It’s probably a good thing it applies here too.

Octavia realizes she’s still holding her hands over Maya’s mouth and pulls them away quickly.

“Sorry,” Maya says. “I just - he shot my father here. For a moment I was ...”

They get up, Octavia holding out her hands for Maya to untie her. “It’s okay,” Octavia tells her. “I still wake up under the floor. Sleeping outside and when Jasper is there, that helps. I hope you find what helps you.”

It’s sweet in a way. Even if Octavia is covered in blood.

“What the hell is going on?”

Maya doesn’t recognize the voice that comes over the speakers, but Octavia grins and says, “Harper, Maya. Maya, Harper. Cage is dead, but they’ve got more of our people. Atom’s lot from the dropship - is it bad I hope Murphy’s still with them?”

Harper laughs shakily. “Okay, so I’ve got control of the security room for now, but someone could show up at any point and my only exit is the same door I came in. I’m not going unnoticed when the guard changes. Doing what I can, but Monty or Raven would be much more useful. If we have to get people out too ...”

“Raven’s radio,” Octavia says abruptly, cutting over Harper. “If you can figure out how to break the blocking thing or just to get a message out. Clarke took the radio.”

“What have you got, Harper?” Maya asks.

“Hi, Maya,” Harper says. “Nice to kinda meet you. I’ve got cameras. Can see just about everywhere there’s cameras. Of course I’ve got no way of actually knowing how that relates to a map, so - but whoo, cameras. Interestingly enough, I’ve got eyes on the dropship, thought that was odd, but if they took Atom’s lot that explains it. Uh. Besides cameras, I have a button that sets off an alarm, two restrained and unconscious guards and, um, a flashlight?”

Harper’s panicking. Octavia is waiting for instructions.

Maya has no clue.

If she doesn’t do something they’re dead.

“Okay, Harper, do you have eyes on where they’re keeping Atom’s people?” Maya asks. “I might be able to work out the location from visual clues.”

There’s a pause, then Harper replies in the negative.

Octavia frowns. “That’s actually more useful to know. Narrows it down way more. Harper, are there any turned off cameras that you didn’t cause?”

Another pause, another negative.

“They won’t be keeping them in the art storage,” Maya says, “not when ...”

“When Cage already has an unmonitored lab space,” Octavia finishes.

“The way Monty and Jasper got out?” Harper asks. “That’s great. It’s an exit too.”

“Tiny problem,” Maya says. “We don’t actually know where it is.”

 

Wells’ father raises an eyebrow at his choice of companions. “Are you sure, Wells? I can’t spare Abby, but Diana Sydney ...”

“You know we can’t trust Sydney,” Wells points out quietly. “Bellamy named Shumway as the person who asked him to shoot you and Shumway is Sydney’s. No proof beyond Bellamy’s word, but he’s got no reason to lie. He’s working with Clarke, I don’t trust him, but I know as long as what Clarke wants is what he thinks is best for Octavia he’ll stay loyal.” He pauses, this wasn’t something he could have brought to Abby. She and Clarke would never approve. “You can’t let Bellamy live when he comes back. Murphy will either fall in line or cause enough trouble you can deal with him through official means. Bellamy will keep his head down right up until Octavia is threatened and then you’ve got dead bodies.”

The Chancellor looks so sad, but he nods. “Wells, I’m sorry I couldn’t be a better father. That I had to be the Chancellor too. I love you and I trust you with this and I’ll see you when you come home.”

Wells hugs him, blinking back the threatening tears. “I love you too and I’ll see you once we’ve both won our home.”

Neither Jaha can allow the people around to see them cry, so they pull apart and shake hands.

“I’m proud of you, son,” Thelonious says.

“Thank you for your trust in me, I won’t let our people down,” Wells replies.

Give the people what they want to see.

Abby is only slightly less fussy, wrapping Wells in a hug and whispering a few last pieces of advice in his ear. She’s wiping away tears when she steps back, though the advice had been quick and practical.

The people want to see different things from a doctor and mother.

As though chancellor and father are hugely different.

Perception is everything.

Wells thinks his father understands he’s trying to be perceived as incompetent.

Rather than actually being incompetent.

Gabe/Mike - Wells might need to start just calling him Mike in his mind, too much danger of calling him by the right name.

Mike has helped everyone else onto the horses, keeping the animals calm and focusing more on their well being than the riders’, and comes over to help Wells up. “This is Poppy,” Mike tells him, stroking the nose of an orangey horse. “Poppy, this is Wells, he’s our leader and very nice, so no biting or kicking or throwing him off, okay? You’re a dignified lady and he’ll treat you good.”

Wells uses a box to mount as Mike guides him and is relieved to find Poppy doesn’t seem to mind.

“Good job, Poppy,” Mike says, as though Wells is a minor unpleasant task, then to Wells, “She’s steady, but proud. She’ll make you look good, but you’ll want to keep her happy, spoil her a little.”

“Mike,” Wells says, clinging onto the reins. “How the hell could you know that? She’s a horse.”

“A childhood spent reading everything I could on animal behavior?” Mike asks. “We still had classes in the Skybox and Danner was so happy there was someone who cared about biology who didn’t want to be a farmer or doctor she got me books. Guards didn’t care as long as she did it all official, but some of the other kids would ... doesn’t matter. I’ve seen all the vids with animals in, trained ones that are acting - you can tell - this one film I saw they had dogs playing wolves and the dogs were so happy to be there they had to CGI their tails because they wouldn’t stop wagging!”

Wells nods, pity Mike hadn’t spent that time learning human behavior, that’d be more useful. “So, you picked what horses we each get?”

Mike nods. “Lincoln can ride and he’s, like, strong, so he got the hardest to handle, mean girl, bigger than most, got a temper. He’s handling her fine. The Grounders didn’t offer anything too challenging. Jones, gave him the calmest, they can sense fear even if he’s trying to hide it, but the gelding looks like he was a bastard before, uh, he was gelded. Looks tough, but he’ll be easy enough to control. Kath, dainty little mare, picks up her hooves like she’s worried about getting them dirty, but she’s got some proper muscle under that pretty silver coat, she’ll be fast. Jackson -”

“Whoa,” Wells says and Poppy huffs at him for being confusing. “Not you, girl,” he tells her, then feels silly. “Mike, Jackson isn’t coming.”

“Um.” Mike glances over at the doctor who sure enough is on a horse. “Have you told him that?”

Wells glances down at Poppy, then asks, embarrassed, “Mike, could you show me how to get her to where Jackson is so I can talk to him?”

Mike leads Poppy instead, when they actually need to set off Poppy will know to follow the others and Wells can work on learning steering along the way. Right now, Mike has no more idea than Wells does.

“Jackson,” Wells says, aiming for his father’s ‘how dare you’ tone.

It makes Jackson start and look at him guiltily, so that’s a success.

“I didn’t ask you, because you’re needed here,” Wells tells him. “They’re going to war, I’m going to lots of meetings. Tell me, where do you think a doctor is more useful?”

Jackson looks at him defiantly, it’s not an expression Wells is used to seeing directed at him. Usually it’s Clarke or his father.

“Your meetings with Bellamy Blake ended with me taking a bullet out of your leg,” Jackson reminds him. “They might have fisas, but they don’t have proper doctors and besides, you can’t trust them not to take a bribe or threat and fail to save you. Abby and Clarke and Chancellor Jaha will kill me if I fail, so ...”

“Abby sent you,” Wells translates, “and you’re more scared of her than you are of me.”

Jackson nods. “Do you blame me?”

“Nah, Abby’s a scary woman,” Wells sighs, accepting his fate. “What about Miller?”

It seems to be a sore point. “What about Miller?” Jackson says, hint of bitterness. “Look, it was fun while it lasted, but now Bryan - well, he’ll be on Farm Station and I very much hope he’s alive, but if he is, Miller is going back to him, and if he isn’t, Miller is going to be devastated. I won’t get in their way or take advantage of Miller’s grief. There’s a huge difference between giving someone permission to sleep around when you’re not sure when you’ll next see them and inviting a total stranger into your relationship. Best thing I can do is stay out of the way until they’re secure enough I can be around and then I’ll keep it professional. I always knew it was temporary. Clean break.”

Wells looks over his diplomats and bites back a groan. Damn Clarke for getting hold of Finn and Harper first. He’d give a lot to have someone competent at his side.

 

“Harper, stop,” Maya says. “You can’t just press random buttons to see what they do, that’s not ...”

“I found the door locks,” Harper reports. “Comes with a map! Not a great map, nothing’s labelled and there’s no obvious big empty space where Cage’s labs could be. You know if you’d left him alive a little longer we could have asked him.”

Octavia throws Cage’s lab keys up to catch them again, Harper can hear them jingling. “If I’d waited any longer, I’d be in those labs already,” Octavia points out.

“There’s just nowhere for it to be,” Maya says, crumpling up another no doubt important file.

“Good news, I’ve locked myself in,” Harper says. “Bad news, I’ve locked myself in.”

“Octavia, could you please help? Look at something,” Maya asks.

“I helped,” Octavia says. “I looked at Cage when you wouldn’t because it was too icky.”

“Icky? He’s dead!”

“So? I know he’s dead. I killed him.”

“You can’t just go through his pockets too!”

“Except I did and tada, keys.”

“Shut up,” Harper orders. “I’ve found a big empty space. The dam.”

“But the dam isn’t empty,” Maya points out after a moment. “It’s full of – of dam.”

“The actual stuff that makes the dam dam only takes up a tiny part of the structure, but because you need the whole thing to be that big regardless ...”

“Great,” Octavia says. “Meet you at the dam, Harper.”

“No,” Harper says quietly. “I don’t know the way. Only place I know the way to is the library. Even once I get there I’m not sure I can find my way back to the kitchens and then out. And from here I can see if anyone’s coming so you can hide and I can open and lock the doors.”

“We won’t leave you,” Octavia tells her.

“Octavia,” Harper pleads, “I’ll find my own way out. Meet you back at the cave. All I have to do is guide you out, then what I’m best at, going unnoticed. You leave enough mess, like taking Atom and co with you, and they’ll think we’re all long gone. Just like you, Octavia, I can walk out when they’ve stopped looking.”

“Okay,” Octavia says quietly. “Good luck, Harper. Come on, Maya, where’s the damn dam?”

 

Finn scrubs his hands in a bucket of water and soap, he’d decided was worth the resource cost, before he can even pick up the shovel. Raven is already starting a new hole near the latrine. Next time they need a new pit, Finn plans on moving it right to the other side.

Like he’d never liked the blood covered lab coat, but a possibly drugged blood covered lab coat is definitely worse. Okay, Jasper has been wearing it for over a week and there’s been no obvious effects, but Finn remembers how Jasper was at Podakru and he’d put the difference down to Mount Weather and having to kill and Lincoln hadn’t said much about being a Reaper, but from everything Finn can gather the Reapers are violent and addicted because of the damn drugs, Jasper’s outburst might just be down to worry about Octavia and Harper, but even Bellamy hadn’t suggested they open a door and kill everyone ...

Finn should have noticed. Harper should have noticed.

Maybe Harper did and just didn’t say anything.

No, he’s being paranoid. Harper has no reason to hide it if she was concerned about Jasper.

Like, they were all concerned about Jasper, but none of them had considered offering any help he didn’t ask for until things turned violent. They’ve been reacting. Crisis management. Nothing to try and prevent future crisis until one’s been caused already.

Bellamy killed before anyone stepped in. Murphy betrayed them over and over. Finn himself had seduced Clarke. Not quite on the same level, but a shitty thing to do regardless.

Now they’re going to do something about Jasper, but he’s still going to have to live with the fact he had to be physically prevented from committing genocide.

Finn glances at Monty in his once pristine suit and thinks maybe the drugs in the blood weren’t the only problem.

 

“I don’t feel any different without it,” Jasper tells them angrily.

“Wait until you calm down,” Murphy advises. “Then you’ll feel like utter shit.”

“What did you call me?” Jasper makes yet another lunge in Murphy’s direction for Bellamy to pull him back from.

Murphy rolls his eyes. “I called you the kind of person to feel guilty about trying to kill kids. If you think that’s an insult, then clearly I was wrong.”

There’s no chance of Jasper calming down with Murphy here, so Miller puts his hand on Murphy’s arm. “Murphy, why don’t you go see if the guys outside need help.”

“Shut up, Miller,” Murphy tells him. “I’m the only one here who understands how he feels and is willing to talk about it. Right, Bellamy?”

It’s obvious he means that Bellamy understands, but isn’t willing to admit it, but Bellamy chooses to take it as asking for instructions. “Murphy, go get a switch, one like Miller used, don’t fuck around and come back with a twig.”

“Why do I have to get one at all?” Murphy asks, scowling. “I’m actually trying to help. And if it’s for Jasper send him.”

“Murphy,” Bellamy says, pointing at the exit. “Out.”

He grumbles a bit more, but goes, making everything that little bit less tense.

“And I actually want -” Bellamy calls after him.

Murphy cuts him off with, “Yeah, yeah, heard you the first time.”

“You didn’t go the first -” Bellamy gives up. He’d known he was signing up for Murphy after all. At least Murphy is trying to help, even if it turns out he’s just as incompetent at that as he is at hindering.

“Should never have let him come back,” Jasper spits at Bellamy. “What’s it going to take this time? Someone actually dying?”

“No,” Bellamy tells him, almost calmly. “That didn’t make them send me away. Clarke doesn’t give up on people and I’m grateful for that, because if she did, I’d be ... somewhere else, either in or causing more pain.”

“And you’re not in or causing pain here,” Jasper says sarcastically. “You just sent Murphy to get a floating stick to hit someone with.”

Clarke puts a hand on Jasper’s upper arm, ignoring that he tries to throw it off. “You say no, no one’s going to force the issue. No actual harm was caused and even if it was, I don’t have anyone to perform for. You’re already forgiven. Bellamy has no authority over you. Nor does Miller. Nor me. Murphy’s agreement with Bellamy doesn’t automatically extend to you just because you were involved. Bellamy’s only role here is to prevent you hurting anyone else by holding you back. If you’d prefer Miller, since, well, he’s more neutral, Bellamy can be told to go as well.”

“What if I wanted you all to go?” Jasper asks. “Told you to get out of my way so I could go to Mount Weather?”

“Then we’d stop you,” Clarke tells him without hesitation.

“So I’m a prisoner again.”

“You may go wherever you wish once I’m confident you are calm enough to walk away from Mount Weather.”

“Walk away?! You’re not walking away! Why should I?!”

“You are also welcome to stay and face it with us. What you are not free to do is carry out your plan which would lead to the death of innocents.”

“Innocents,” Jasper sneers. “They’re not innocent. They all took the blood.”

“Maya’s innocent,” Monty says and the group turns to find him with Finn slightly behind holding his shoulder.

“Maya understands that sacrifice must be made to -”

“Maya took the blood.” Monty walks towards Jasper. “Her father took the blood, because the alternative was leaving Maya without her parents. Maybe they should all refuse, choose to die to stop it, because it’s the right thing to do, but we can’t make that choice for them. We don’t have the right to pass judgement on people who had to choose between killing and their own lives. It’d be hypocritical.”

Jasper looks at Monty, an expression of pain on his face. “They’ve killed so many - you can’t just - forgive them.”

Monty shakes his head. “I don’t forgive them. I want to stop them. But just like we’re not willing to kill you to stop you killing them, we’re not willing to kill them to stop them killing either. It just means someone else comes along later and decides they’re right to kill us for killing them.”

“And just like you don’t forgive them, you can’t forgive me.” Jasper smiles humorlessly.

“Do you forgive me for killing Cage for you?” Monty asks.

“What? I never blamed you.”

“Then you should understand why I never blamed you either. Difference there is I love you.”

“Don’t,” Jasper whispers. “Don’t. Monty, please.”

Now Bellamy gets what Murphy must have been seeing all along. Forget Mount Weather, this is because Jasper can’t forgive himself.

Bellamy can relate.

He’s just not currently advocating genocide as an alternative.

“Jasper,” Bellamy says, unconcerned when he doesn’t look away from Monty. He’s not admitting Murphy was right though. “Killing more really isn’t the way to forgive yourself. Have to start making the choices not to, like giving Murphy a – eightieth chance.”

Clarke smiles encouragingly at Bellamy and holy shit, Murphy can have as many chances as he wants if it makes Clarke smile at him like that.

“When you gave me your sword,” Clarke says, “I told you I might refuse to give it back and you said that was what you were hoping for. What changed?”

Jasper shakes his head. “Nothing. Thank you. Oh, this is the bit where I feel like shit ...” He smiles shakily.

Monty pulls him into a hug.

“Told you,” Murphy says smugly, pushing past Finn for the purpose of throwing a stick directly at Bellamy. “Finn, your girlfriend is a bitch by the way, didn’t have a knife and she mocked me for much longer than necessary before cutting it for me. Wouldn’t even let me use the stupid knife.”

Raven pushes past Murphy in turn, ruffling his hair and shoving his head forward. “Oh, when we trust you with blades again, you’ll be told. Until then don’t pester.”

“But if I don’t ask, how will I know?” Murphy asks her, fixing his hair.

They’re grinning at each other. Apparently this is their definition of friendly.

Bellamy has always thought of Raven as standoffish and a bit rude. Too blunt.

Practically the opposite from Finn’s romantic musings.

Finn looks like Murphy has just ripped his heart out.

Bellamy comes to the strange realization that he doesn’t want to hit Murphy.

Even if he’d look prettier in tears than he does with a grin.

Fuck.

Bellamy’s falling for Murphy’s attempts to make them not hate him, just like Raven. “Murphy, quit flirting and come here.” Somehow, Finn looks even more dejected.

Murphy winks at Raven who flips him off, before he strolls over to Bellamy. There’s a tension he can’t quite fully hide in his overly relaxed posture. He doesn’t say anything, just waits for the next order.

Then Jasper steps up next to Murphy.

“Oh, don’t you dare,” Murphy tells Jasper angrily. “It was bad enough when Bellamy decided to be all fair and chivalrous, I wanted to see him hurt. Like, you’re all thinking I stopped Jasper because I wanted to save people, right? Nope, sorry to disappoint, but I think Jasper has the right idea. I just know I’m the only one who thinks that and that I can’t trust my own judgement on that kind of shit. Actually doing it, that would have destroyed Jasper. And Monty and Octavia and Harper and parts of all of you lot too. And I care about that, yeah, I’m admitting to caring, don’t wet yourselves in excitement, I care about that more than I care about Mount Weather. Losing Jasper to that would make giving me another chance way less of a priority. Bellamy would be the person who Jasper needed and Octavia too. I’d be even less welcome. I wasn’t trying to be a hero or save people, just myself.”

Annoyingly, it makes Bellamy want to hit him even less. “Jasper,” Bellamy says, ignoring Murphy for the moment. “I need to ask what you’re asking for.”

“Same as Murphy,” Jasper says, also ignoring Murphy, who pouts about it. “At least.”

“I can agree to that – shut up, Murphy – Jasper, you agree to let me decide the punishment for this, on the condition that you get exactly the same as Murphy does?” Bellamy can tell the rest of the group are trying to work out what he’s doing, but none of them interrupt, so he ignores them too.

“Yes,” Jasper says.

Murphy groans.

“Okay.” Bellamy sits back. “Since I’m not willing to punish Jasper for this, I can’t punish Murphy either.” He holds the stick out to Murphy. “Guess I don’t need this after all.”

There’s a surprised silence.

Bellamy judges that Jasper is about to start protesting and holds up a hand to stop him. “Jasper, you agreed to me making that decision. Any argument you make now is going to count against Murphy as well. You still feel you deserve to be punished, it’s a different conversation. One you should have with Clarke or Miller or Raven or me at a time I don’t need to focus on Murphy. Okay? Sleep on it.”

Jasper nods and allows Monty to lead him over to their shared pile of blankets.

There seems to be a general opinion that that’s the cue it’s no longer a spectator sport.

Raven takes Finn and holds his arms either side in order to bodily turn his back, staying in front of him to force him to turn his head if he wants to keep watching. Miller and Clarke politely find a corner to talk quietly in. No one actually leaves.

Murphy shakes his head and doesn’t take the stick.

The stick isn’t half as painful looking as the one Miller used. Switch not cane. Bellamy realizes Raven had been the one to choose it.

Murphy wouldn’t have been as merciful.

“Take the reprieve,” Bellamy tells Murphy, “don’t make me punish you for good intentions.”

“My intentions weren’t good,” Murphy snaps, hands clenching into fists. “I asked you, because you want to hurt me too much to ever believe I had good intentions. You’ve proved that over and over.” He starts unwrapping the bandage around the arm Bellamy had broken.

It’s healed, just not well.

It’s twisted, a lump of bone pressing up under a thick stripe of scarring. His hand is at the wrong angle to the rest of his body. It’s noticeably shorter than the other, but Murphy must have been slouching slightly to the left to hide the fact.

He’s not hiding it now.

His shirt is long sleeved on the opposite side, thumb hole picked through. Wells had cut away the other sleeve to treat it when it first happened and without his jacket, Murphy must have kept the bandages to keep the weakness hidden.

Now he wants Bellamy to see what he’s done.

Murphy holds out his arm, offering it the same way Bellamy is offering the stick.

Bellamy can’t apologize and Murphy won’t take the mercy.

That’s when the radio crackles into life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, I wonder what name Wells will decide on, it's a complete mystery.
> 
> I swear Wells isn't starting a villain arc. I hope. It's looking pretty suspicious, but at worst he's got antagonist status and even then he's still working for Clarke. Though from a certain perspective Clarke is a villain. I had to work out about 90% of Wells' characterization from Jaha though and we all know how we feel about that guy. I hope Wells comes across better. Not that anyone I'm writing comes across particularly heroic. Even Maya gets negative traits and actions.
> 
> Finn isn't a villain either, but he certainly isn't the pure innocent bean Wells seems to think he is.
> 
> This is not the last Odysseus symbolism for Maya. There's quite a few Iliad/Odyssey parallels, because I am a classics nerd. Also I get to blame Bellamy for it.
> 
> rip Kath's dignity.
> 
> Drugging him or not, that labcoat was not doing good things for Jasper's mental health.


	13. Adam and Vie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the team up that made me go 'uh, wait, do I ship them??' Atom and Maya??
> 
> They were never in any position to meet in canon and then this happened. I've never been a huge fan of Jasper/Maya, although I think it's a very sweet pairing. Mainly that felt like it was being set up as this perfectly pure love and glossed over any complications that might have existed. Complications like him killing some of the people she's known all her life and her being able to ignore the Harvest until it was people she knew.
> 
> This version where Jasper abandons the plan in favor of killing even more and escaping with Monty ... there's a part of Maya that feels he used her and never had any intention of staying. How much of how he treated her in public towards the end was an act?
> 
> Compare getting her help to cause an explosion, killing at least four people and then running and apparently forgetting about her to her experience of Atom ...
> 
> Atom and Jasper's feelings about Maya are surprisingly similar.

“My name is Harper McIntyre. I’m broadcasting this on every channel using the Mount Weather system, so, uh, everyone can hear this. Just hope it gets to you too, Clarke. Cage Wallace is dead. He died trying to kill Maya Vie. The girl he claimed as his daughter. Octavia saved her. We’re sorry for killing him.

“We’re leaving now, taking those of our people he was experimenting on.

“We will not hesitate to kill anyone who stands in our way, but let us pass and we won’t hurt anyone.

“The youngest of our people here, Charlotte, is twelve. Our oldest, Atom, is seventeen. I’m sixteen. We’re children. Three of us have died during Cage’s experiments.

“People of Mount Weather, you can’t keep pretending nothing is happening, that no one is dying for you. Choose your new leader wisely.

“There are no more Wallaces.

“When you have chosen, our Hainofi, Clarke Griffin, will meet that leader under a white flag for peace negotiations. You know where we are.

“After all, you left cameras all around our spaceship.”

 

Jones hates horses. Jones hates riding horses. Jones hates weather. Jones hates Grounders.

Jones hates Wells Jaha for dragging them on this mad trip.

His only comfort is that everyone else seems just as grumpy.

Even Mike’s horse powered joy had faded in the face of the actual experience.

Jones pulls his horse, he’s forgotten the name Mike told him, up besides Wells’. Their wonderful leader is having a conversation with the damn Grounder he’d brought along.

Jones glares at the Grounder who responds with blank indifference.

“So, if the leader of Azgeda is the Haiplana, which is the highest rank under Commander, then why is her heir, uh ...” Wells waves a hand.

“Roan,” the Grounder says.

“Roan,” Wells repeats. “Why is Roan known as Hainofa, which is fourth rank under third Hainofi? Surely, he’s Haihefa? Second in command.”

The Grounder focuses on the road ahead as he answers. “Because Nia doesn’t trust him. Haihefa is more co-ruler than second. Haiplana and Haihefa share the burden. Hainofi is Haiplana’s heir and Hainofa is Haihefa’s heir. Nia rules alone. Calling Roan Hainofa when there is no Haihefa is saying he will never rule while she lives, but she can still choose an heir who is not him. Roan will never be Haiplana, but he could be Haihefa if she died before choosing a Hainofi.”

Jones thinks it sounds like a lot of words to say Roan’s mother is a bitch.

“That can’t be popular,” Wells says. Doesn’t need to ask. Waste of words.

“It isn’t,” Lincoln replies and Jones likes him a little more.

“Who isn’t it popular with?” Wells asks.

Jones is going to have to try that trick next time he’s not sure what Wells wants to know.

“Everyone,” Lincoln says with a shrug. “Azgeda is strong and new to the Coalition. No one argues for fear of war.”

“So, Roan is the only real threat to Nia’s power?” Wells asks not really wanting an answer. He does that a lot. “And none of the other krus would be sad if Nia had a mysterious accident. She needs to get Roan out of the way or name a Hainofi fast. Maybe both. Unless she kills him, Roan is going to be very popular with the other krus the moment she moves against him though. Are there any contenders for Hainofi?”

Lincoln looks at Wells showing a little annoyance. “I haven’t thought of Azgeda in months. As far as I know, Roan is dead and Nia has appointed three rabid skunks to replace him. Ask Anya.”

Jones almost smiles.

Wells does not ask Anya. “Trikru, then. What’s their situation?”

There’s clear anger as Lincoln replies. “Nia goes unchallenged on ignoring tradition, because of Heda Lexa’s choices. She leads Trikru like Haiplana, but she’s Commander. Heda has no kru, all kru are Heda’s kru.

“This Coalition - No kru should have that power, not Trikru, not Azgeda. As Heda, Lexa rules alone, only the Spirits of the Commanders to guide her. When her seken died, Trikru lost its Hainofi. Heda hasn’t replaced her. She won’t.

“If the next Commander isn’t Trikru, she’ll leave Trikru without leader. Wormana Anya, leader of Heda’s army and Trikru’s army, another two titles that shouldn’t be held together, Wormana Anya will lead Trikru as Haiplana when Heda dies.

“She’ll lead us to war against the cause of Heda Lexa’s death.

“If Gustus, Heda’s Setneshona, outlives Heda, which is unlikely, he’ll take the title Haihefa at Anya’s side. He’ll lead us to war just as certainly.

“And I’m called traitor for saying this.”

Wells looks far too happy.

“Uh, Wells,” Jones says. “You’d tell us first if you were gonna, like, take over the coalition thing, right?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Wells says. “They’d never let _me_ lead it.”

Jones isn’t reassured.

 

“What the hell is your problem?” Raven asks Finn, trying to push down her anger.

“My problem? You’re flirting with Murphy!” Finn knocks her hands off his arms.

“Flirting with ... Are you actually that stupid?!” Raven tries to keep this quiet. “I’m not interested in screwing Murphy!”

“You’re acting a lot more interested in screwing Murphy than in screwing me!”

“I’m being friendly! Figures you wouldn’t know the difference.”

“I haven’t flirted with anyone since Clarke. Right back before you even got to Earth. Haven’t slept with anyone else. I’ve been waiting for you, ever since you said we should take a break. I’ve been good. When are you going to take me back?”

Raven stares at him for a moment. “That isn’t how it works, Finn! You can’t just put in a certain amount of good behavior tokens and get sex! I don’t even know if I want to take you back at all.”

Finn gives her his very best kicked puppy expression.

“And that, that is exactly why! I can’t tell if you’re being good because you want to be good or because you want back in my bed.”

“Raven, I love -”

“I love you too, Finn, you’re my family. Always will be. No matter if we’re fucking or not. And it’s going to be not. Find someone else. Someone you can be honest to right from the start. Huh, that rules Clarke out.”

“But – but you’re still wearing my necklace.” Finn looks like his whole world is ending, instead of reality where he’s been refused sex.

“Family,” Raven says again, emphasizing every syllable. “You’re my brother.”

“Monty and Jasper are brothers and they -”

“No, Finn.” Raven wonders if this is what it’s like owning a dog. An adorable, friendly, unrelentingly horny dog.

Finn seems to have finally reached his deepest level of woeful, wronged and being thrown out onto the street to starve while it’s snowing.

Raven reminds herself exactly what she’s doing to him and is unmoved. “I bet you can’t even say, honestly, that me and Clarke are the only people here you’ve considered. How about Harper? She knows about you and she’s observant enough to catch you out.”

“Harper’s like a sister,” Finn throws Raven’s own words back at her.

“Finn, you don’t get to be angry at me over this,” Raven tells him. “I don’t owe you sex. Not for working on your honesty, not for the times you helped me when we were on the Ark, not for loving me the whole time. I won’t talk about this with you again. Try and work on love without sex. Harper’s helping you there.”

“My name is Harper McIntyre ...” the radio says.

 

Maya doesn’t follow Octavia into the dam.

“What?” Octavia asks. “Is there some other important thing we need to do?”

“I can’t go outside,” Maya says with a sad smile. “The radiation would kill me. Cage didn’t give me the bone marrow. He gave it to his guards. Emerson and the others loyal to him. Even Doctor Tsing didn’t get any.”

Octavia very calmly says goodbye and closes the door between them. Then she draws her knife and sets off to rescue Atom’s idiots.

Doctor Tsing is desperately extracting bone marrow from one of said idiots. She’s shaking, trying to save herself after Harper’s message. When she sees Octavia she pulls the syringe out, three quarters full, and backs away, empty hand held up in surrender. “I’m not stopping you,” Tsing says. “You can take them.”

Octavia considers her as she releases the boy from the straps on the operating table. He’s unable to stand, even with assistance. She sighs, hopefully enough of the ones watching from what must be the same tiny cages from the Harvest Chamber are fit enough to carry the ones that aren’t.

She can imagine Monty in one of those cages.

“See, Doctor,” Octavia says as she walks towards her, “that was Harper’s promise, not mine.”

 

“Do you think it reached as far as the Ark?” Monty asks.

Raven nods. “It’s a mountain. Tower at the top could easily reach that far, further even. Right out over the ocean. Not much chance of there being anything besides the Ark that can receive it though.”

There’s a pause, then Miller says it. “Do we want peace?”

“Yes,” Clarke says after a moment. “The alternative is genocide. You can’t split them into soldiers and civilians.”

“Will we give them terms? Is this a surrender or a truce?” Miller is rarely the most talkative in any given group.

“I don’t know,” Clarke replies. “I suppose it depends on the leader they choose.”

“This could still be a war,” Bellamy points out. “If they choose.”

“So we wait,” Monty says. “We seem to do that a lot.”

“No,” Jasper says. “We go to the Mountain. Now. Harper and Octavia and maybe Maya are coming out with wounded. We have to help them transport them. It’ll need to be the dropship, not enough room here. It’ll need making ready too.”

Miller briefly counts heads. “Raven and Clarke should prepare the camp. Deal with the cameras and set up a field hospital. Rest of us go to meet the escapees.”

“I could go with Clarke and Raven,” Finn volunteers.

“No,” Raven says, rather more harshly than seems necessary.

“We need everyone who isn’t essential to preparing the camp,” Miller says. “Mechanic, Doctor. Camp doesn’t need a tracker.”

“Miller’s right,” Clarke agrees, looking between Finn and Raven. “Miller’s also in charge of this mission. Bellamy, Murphy, Finn, Jasper ... everyone except Monty, no unauthorised detours or extras. Monty, help Miller keep an eye on them.”

Monty almost smiles in amusement. “Yes, sir,” he tells Clarke, then he turns to Jasper and decides at the last moment not to make whatever joke he was about to.

Miller decides to make one in his place. “My dad would be so proud,” he says mournfully.

There’s a few smiles, but no laughs.

Raven is the first to stand. “Guess you should have left that toolbox where it was,” she tells Murphy, then walks away without saying anything to Finn.

Cue kicked puppy in 3 ... 2 ... 1

There is is.

Clarke has clearly decided Raven is going to be the rational and reliable party on the topic and gets up to join her with a slightly apologetic grin at Miller.

Wait, did he just volunteer to babysit?

_Those three._ Plus Jasper.

Bellamy offers Miller a hand up.

“Don’t look so betrayed,” Murphy tells him, clapping Miller on the shoulder as he accepts Bellamy’s help. “You’re the one who told the most responsible ones to leave. Sure they don’t need Monty as well?”

Murphy winces when Bellamy claps him on the shoulder rather harder. “Miller’s in charge of the mission, but I’m still in charge of you,” Bellamy tells him. “Give him any trouble and I’ll add to whatever he gives you for it.”

Miller doesn’t feel much better given that. Murphy’s a nuisance, sure, but Bellamy ...

Bellamy’s the one Miller is least happy about taking with him.

To Miller’s surprise, Bellamy grabs a pair of blankets and hands one each to Jasper and Murphy. Jasper wraps it round him in place of his lab coat, which couldn’t have been doing much, with a nod of thanks. Murphy takes it automatically, then looks at it as though he’s never seen one before.

“It’s cold out,” Bellamy tells Murphy defensively, “and we all know you can’t be trusted to look after yourself.”

“You don’t care,” Murphy says, but he slings the blanket over his shoulders.

Bellamy angles Murphy to face him. “Your condition for this arrangement was that I punish you, my condition is that I get to look after you.”

“Why? You don’t want to.”

Bellamy doesn’t answer, just turns Murphy towards the exit.

“Octavia can’t get back soon enough,” Murphy grumbles, but Miller notices he’s holding the blanket so tightly his knuckles are white.

 

Atom goes straight to Connor’s side, there’s no question of him being ready to run, so he looks around for something to make into a stretcher. The top of the operating table is bolted down, a separate piece from the legs, so he goes for a bolt, trying to loosen it by hand.

Jacob hands him a pair of tongs.

That makes the job easier.

He and Jacob work on the bolts either side of Connor. Myles wraps Charlotte in Tsing’s labcoat, the strips of cloth they’re wearing aren’t appropriate in any sense for the forest outside. Monroe and Lisa are the only ones Tsing’s other clothes will fit, it’s not clear how they decide who gets what, but Monroe takes the trousers and Lisa the shirt. Mbege and Shoana need help standing, but they don’t need stretchers. Myles supports Mbege while Lisa puts Tsing’s shoes on Shoana.

“Harper?” Monroe asks Octavia as the pair throw open cupboards in the hope of finding anything of use.

“She’ll get out when they’ve stopped looking,” Octavia answers, slamming closed another unhelpful cupboard.

“Sterling’s dead,” Monroe says. She needs to tell someone.

“I didn’t know them, sorry,” Octavia tells her.

Atom removes the last bolt. “Jacob, Octavia, help me lift this.” They seem the most energetic, Octavia hasn’t been kept in a cage and had her bone marrow removed and Jacob has always had more energy than sense.

“I’m not coming,” Jacob tells them.

“What the fuck?” Octavia asks, shoving Jacob towards Connor’s stretcher. “Mount Weather isn’t some vacation spot! It’s hell! Why does everyone want to stay?!”

Jacob hesitates, he’s never been great with words. Atom goes to his shoulder, backing him up and he finds some. “’Cause Jason’s dead. And it ... he shouldn’t be, right? And ... and I can save people, with my bones, and I ... Cage and the doctor are dead too and I’m not sad, but ... I think we owe their people for it. I ... just wanna help.”

“They’re the ones that killed Jason in the first place! And Sterling!” Octavia yells.

“And Lisa Ann,” Myles adds. “They killed more of us, we don’t owe them.”

“I want to stay too,” Charlotte says. “They didn’t kill more, because of the guard I killed.”

“Charlotte,” Lisa says, crouching in front of her. “You can’t stay. They’ll hurt you.”

“I know!” Charlotte stamps her foot. “But I have bones, just like all of you and I killed him!”

Atom steps in. “Everyone shut up. People what put us here, hurt us, they’re dead. Cage and Doctor Tsing. Thanks for that, Octavia, but all the others still trapped here, they didn’t do this. Just ‘cause it was done for them don’t make them the ones what did it. And if you wanna stay, Jacob, give ‘em a chance at getting out - well, I’m stayin’ with you. Ain’t gonna make anyone stay with us. ‘s your choice. Whatever the hell you want. Even Charlotte. Octavia, you’re going back to your family, I’m stickin’ by mine, don’t care what choice they make here. Uh, that’s it, all I wanna say.”

It’s not as polished as Clarke and he’d nicked Bellamy’s rallying cry, but it kills the argument.

Monroe is the first to step up behind Jacob other shoulder. “For Sterling,” she says.

Lisa doesn’t look at any of them as she and Myles join Octavia.

Mbege keeps leaning on Myles. “Sorry, Atom,” Mbege says. “I can’t. Too much of a coward.”

Atom smiles at him. “Not sure I ain’t the coward for not wanting to go back to the damn woods. Look after them, ‘kay? Don’t let Clarke get her hooks in. Get Octavia back to Bellamy safe. Find Murphy, kick his ass for me.”

“With pleasure,” Mbege says, smiling back.

“D-don’t leave me,” Connor manages. “Out. Please. Don’t leave me.”

Shoana wobbles a couple of steps to catch herself on the bed close enough to stroke his arm. “No one’s leaving anyone,” she tells him. “You and me and Mbege, doesn’t matter we’re not as strong, they’re getting us out.”

It takes a bit of organizing, Mbege and Shoana holding each other up, Octavia, Lisa and Myles carrying Connor between them, sheet made into a bag rather than lift half the bed frame.

Charlotte offers Myles Tsing’s labcoat and he gives her something close to his old grin in return.

Once they’re gone, Atom looks round at Jacob, Monroe and Charlotte. He thinks he’s proud of them. It’s a new feeling.

“We’d better go introduce ourselves,” Atom tells them, “’s only polite.”

 

Jasper Jordan’s party starts well.

It’s not what they would have considered a success on the Ark, they didn’t hold them for arrests or floatings. This time they’re mourning the missing faces.

All of them.

Delinquent or Arker. Dead or away or unknown.

Jasper makes a good symbol of that.

No one knows exactly what happened to him and he was popular. He was one of the Delinquents, though for a very short amount of time, making all the happy memories everyone has of him ones from the Ark. Ark and Delinquent have much the same stories of him. No one can miss that Roma’s tending bar in Jasper’s place or that Bree is controlling the music in Monty’s place or that the Grounders are the source of the alcohol and drugs.

They’d set up a tent too, half the party inside, half outside. No pretending this is the Ark.

And there’s Grounders in attendance.

Bree and Roma have done more for Grounder/Arker relations in one night than anyone else has managed since the dropship hit the ground.

Jaha should have sent them instead of his son who couldn’t even control Bellamy ‘shirts are for less pretty people’ Blake. In Bree’s expert opinion it’d have prevented a hell of a lot of trouble if Wells or Bellamy had been willing to spread his legs for the other.

Boys.

Violence has it’s place, but it’s not the only tool. Not by a long way.

Wells is asking a lot from Kath. A role Bree would have been more than happy to fill and since she actually knows what she’s doing ...

She’d have had to insist Roma came too, but Roma has the benefit of being rather good at the violence they insist on before they take you seriously, so that wouldn’t have been much of a struggle. Not that she resents Kath or anything, mostly just feels sorry for her. Wells is oblivious of the girl’s crush on him and Kath is going to be completely out of her depth as a diplomat.

She’ll either learn very quickly or die.

Just because Wells Jaha had passed over Bree and Roma, they don’t have any intention of giving up politics. Doctor Griffin and Diana Sydney are doing well with Indra and Kali, keeping Jaha from messing that up, but when it comes to the Grounders as a group, no one’s doing anything to get a good public opinion.

Wells’ wall between the Grounder and Delinquent camps had been a major mistake. Bree isn’t going to let it be made again. There’s a fence, because Wells learned from Jaha and their first thought is of danger. The gate needs to stay open at all times.

That means making movement between the two camps frequent and casual. Fox’s been back and forth preparing for the party for days, various Delinquents pitching in to help her with carrying. Bree and Roma have found separate Grounder lovers. Roma, a pretty sharp blonde named Niylah, practical with no issue keeping things purely sexual. Bree, a dark gona named Sindri, a charmer, she’s not the only one, but Sindri thinks she doesn’t know that.

They’ve always found themselves picking lovers that remind them of the other.

Bellamy had been Bree’s suggestion.

She looks over at Roma, who grins back at her and casually changes the song. It’s got to the point in the night no one much cares what’s playing, they’re just going to keep making the same movements.

You Can Make Him Like You – The Hold Steady.

Bree mouths along with the opening at the same time as Roma. _You don’t have to deal with the dealers, let your boyfriend deal with the dealers, it only gets inconvenient, when you wanna get high alone._ Someone asks Bree for more alcohol and she rolls her eyes before returning to her bar tending.

Neither she or Roma are getting drunk or high, not tonight.

Too much danger of trouble.

And they’ve only got each other to deal with it.

“My name is Harper McIntyre ...”

 

“I’m not talking about Finn,” Raven tells Clarke as she dismantles the first camera.

Clarke says nothing, Jackson’s surgery is nearly intact, except for the bit where they took all the actual tools and medicine with them.

“If he can’t deal with being told no to sex then that’s his problem.”

They just need to figure out what’s most essential. Food and blood. Everyone can donate a little blood when they get back. The whole Ark shares a blood type. She’s already got what she needs for that.

“We’ll be happier if we both just fuck other people. Not like either of us will have trouble finding someone.”

Food. Clarke needs to gather wood and make a fire. Hopefully, Murphy left enough rations behind to feed them or at least get the injured enough fuel to allow recovery.

“I just can’t believe he’s jealous of Murphy. Murphy is literally at the very bottom of the list of all 100 Delinquents ordered by how much I’d want to sleep with them.”

“Does that include Charlotte?” Clarke asks absently, mostly occupied with locating a pot large enough she can just throw whatever supplies there are in to make stew.

Raven stops, completely thrown, then attacks a camera with even more vengeance. “Yes, actually. Charlotte’s ninety ninth. That’s how little I want to sleep with Murphy.”

“What about Bellamy? He’s not part of the hundred.” Clarke knows she’s just being mean at this point, but really, she needs to get Raven off the topic of Finn before she goes insane. Maybe she should move Jackson’s surgery beds into the dropship. It’s getting cold.

“Now there’s a choice,” Raven says with a shudder. “Bellamy or Murphy.”

“It’s obviously Bellamy, though.” Huh, Atom’s lot have already made up beds in the dropship. If Clarke’s lot need beds too and there’s three dead, assuming maximum success, she only needs to make ... seven more.

“See, I don’t think it’s that simple. Bellamy’s prettier and more charismatic, sure, but Murphy’s, like, you just feel sorry for him, you know?”

“And him being pathetic is sexy?” Clarke can manage one of the surgery beds on her own if she doesn’t mind dragging it over the ground. Doesn’t matter, that’s not the side they’ll be sleeping on.

“Not, like, you know that thing Finn does, all wounded puppy, it’s like that.”

“Oh, yeah, I know what you mean. Murphy’s too much of a dick for it to work.”

Raven comes over to help Clarke carry the second bed. “It’s like do you want prettiness and charm and a great ass and freckles and bravery and a huge heart and actual social skills and hair that looks miles better now his access to hair gel has been cut off and - what was my point?”

“That none of that matters because Murphy is a wounded puppy and Bellamy is a murderer?”

“Yes, exactly. It’s – it’s about honesty. After Finn ... but, like, I’ve got way better options than either of them, so it doesn’t matter.” Raven picks a leaf out of a fur blanket.

“And who are these better options, hmm?” Clarke asks. She’s missed conversations that weren’t about survival or war. About stuff that doesn’t really matter.

Raven sighs. “Okay, I don’t exactly have anyone in mind. Harper’s about the only - but she’s like Finn’s sister, which makes her like my sister. Octavia is Bellamy’s sister and Bellamy is far too willing to kill for her.”

“Damn, looks like you’re stuck with Murphy after all,” Clarke says, taking the opposite side of a blanket to help Raven shake it out.

The blanket settles between them and they both stare at each other. Clarke leans towards her and Raven meets her halfway. The kiss is rough, stress and anger and demand.

“We’ve got hours before they get back,” Raven tells her when they pull apart.

Clarke pulls her back in.

 

Octavia starts crying when Bellamy and the rest show up.

Fair enough, Mbege feels a lot like doing that himself.

“Where’s Charlotte? Is this all of you?” Jasper asks. Mbege had assumed he was dead, along with Monty, when he hadn’t been put in the cages with them.

“Little bitch stayed,” Lisa says. “Along with Atom and a couple of others. They’re volunteering to give more bone marrow.”

Jasper looks like he’s been stabbed in the gut without warning. Monty stays close to him as he puts a blanket around Shoana. No one asks why Jasper was wearing a blanket in the first place.

Murphy is rather less gentle as he throws another blanket over Mbege’s head. Mbege extracts himself as Murphy asks, “Like the rescue party I sent after you?”

His _arm_.

There’s no option other than to stare. Bellamy had ... but Murphy had still brought Bellamy along to rescue them.

Murphy is a dick, but Mbege knows that, has stood by him their whole lives despite it. He hadn’t left because he didn’t care, he’d left to hide this weakness. Because he couldn’t bear their pity.

Mbege doesn’t mention the arm. “You should know, I have very specific instructions from Atom about kicking your ass.”

“Have to wait until you can stand on your own and you’ll need a permission slip from Bellamy,” Murphy throws back.

“Bellamy?” Mbege feels a sinking in his gut, of course this rescue hadn’t come free, whatever deal Murphy’s made for it ...

“Um, yeah.” Murphy looks like he regrets mentioning anything. “You know how I was with Atom, it’s kinda like that with Bellamy, only like all the time. And we’re not fucking.” He smirks. “Yet.”

Mbege’s concern must be obvious, because Murphy adds, “’s not anything I don’t want. He wants way different shit to Atom and it matches what shit I want better.” Murphy hesitates, then lowers his voice as if he’s admitting something even more embarrassing than whatever kinky shit he means. “He gave me that blanket ‘cause he was worried about me getting cold.”

“No way,” Mbege says automatically. “After the shit he’s done to you? You’ll go back to him ‘cause he gave you a blanket?”

“Heard people say the same to Harper about you,” Murphy says. It’s the first time he’s hit quite that hard against Mbege.

It’s a clear cue to back off. “Whatever, man,” Mbege tells him. “He hurts you again and we destroy him together. I got your back.”

Murphy nods at him. “Thanks, man. Don’t let Atom down on the ass kicking front.”

In Murphy terms that’s an apology. It makes Mbege wonder if he’s apologizing to Bellamy too and if so, what for.

Maybe he’s just using Bellamy as a means to apologize to everyone who can’t or won’t kick his ass for being an ass.

Mbege has to admit, Bellamy’s willingness to hurt Murphy would be a bonus in that scenario.

And the blanket an unasked for kindness.

Knowing Murphy a kindness Bellamy would have had to force on him.

In that case, long as the blankets keep happening, Mbege’s willing to give Bellamy a second chance.

 

Maya waits for the guards at the door to the dam. There’s nowhere to go, everyone knows she was involved thanks to Harper’s message and she can’t survive Outside.

When they arrive, Maya holds out her wrists to them. She won’t fight physically. That’s her rule.

No matter what.

There’s some discussion between them that she can’t hear, then Lee seems to have drawn the short straw for approaching her. “Maya,” he says hesitantly, staying a good two foot away. “We found Cage’s body. The guards at the cameras say they never even saw what hit them. It matches what Harper McIntyre said. Are we right to believe her?”

“I’m not sure Cage was trying to kill me, specifically, but he would have,” Maya tells them. “Otherwise, yes, I’m certain it’s true.”

It seems to reassure him more than a simple ‘yes’ would have. “Um, me and some of the others, most of the others, Emerson, he’s gone, took most of those who’d already got the new treatment and they went Outside, but all of us who are still here, us being the guard, we wanted to offer you our support. For your, uh, well, since Cage named you his heir and never actually took that back, you’ve got the best claim on the title of President and, and we reckon you’d do a good job of it. Uh, Ma’am.” Lee salutes and after a second the rest of the guards behind him copy him.

Maya stares at them over her held out wrists. They’re not arresting her? She lowers them after a moment. “I won’t be President,” Maya tells them, “that title is too bloodstained.”

Lee nods in understanding. “Don’t reckon it matters much what you call yourself, ma’am. Long as you’re the one to show up to that meeting with the Outsider President.”

Maya is abruptly aware she’s wearing her pajamas and speckled with blood. What the hell is she supposed to say? “I accept,” she says.

It’s the perfect timing for Atom to come through the door behind her.

He steps between her and Lee instantly, bringing up his fists, it’s kind of sweet. It’s sweeter when a girl, a boy and Charlotte step up beside him without asking a single question.

“Atom, stand down,” Maya tells him. “They’re not trying to hurt me. Or you. He’s to go unharmed. All of the Outsiders.” It’s the first order she’s given as Leader of Mount Weather. She likes it. It’s a good order.

It takes the guards a moment to take their hands off their weapons, but they all do.

“Maya, this is Charlotte, Monroe and Jacob. Guys, this is Maya Vie.” Atom grins at her. “Knew you’d find a way to help us, thanks. We’re, uh, we’re here to help back. Volunteer for the bone marrow extraction. Oh!” He turns and offers Maya a syringe. “You should use this. Hoped it’d be you I found first.”

It’s a ticket to the surface.

“I can’t,” she tells him. “Not when someone else could have it.”

“Madam Vie?” Lee asks. “Uh, you should take it, uh, unless you’re planning on attending the peace talk in a radiation suit.”

Maya holds out her wrists again, this time to Atom. “Make it quick. It’s going to hurt.”

 

“How’d you find them?” Clarke asks neither group in particular.

“They followed the sound of petty bickering,” Miller tells her. “No actual trouble though.”

Murphy puts on an innocent expression even he himself isn’t fooled by.

“I’d, uh, expected more than five,” Clarke says, gesturing at the bottom floor of the dropship carpeted in beds.

Raven greets Finn with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, he looks hurt, but more accepting of whatever decision Raven has made for both of them. Murphy reckons he can make an educated guess.

Spacewalker hasn’t had to deal with rejection often.

It doesn’t look like Raven’s changed her mind, but it’s very different from the obvious anger she was directing at Finn last time Murphy saw them together.

And now Clarke seems to be actively ignoring him. Finn had attempted to greet her with a hug too and Clarke had avoided it by insisting on tending to Connor.

Murphy glances between Raven and Clarke. They had been alone for hours and what they needed to do to set up couldn’t possibly have taken up that whole time. They’d have been anxious, stressed. Raven had just turned Finn down, either extending their split or something more permanent.

Clarke and Raven are acting weird to each other too.

Raven walks past Clarke, staring at nothing in particular in the opposite direction, and Clarke drops the tube she’s about to stick into Bellamy’s arm. Bellamy picks it up and gives her a reassuring smile, who knows what he’s putting her nervousness down to.

Probably the fact she’s about to perform a blood transfusion in a far from sterile environment between two people rather than getting a nice immobile bag involved.

But that wouldn’t throw Clarke off, she’d just get all Hainofi and cold and calm.

She doesn’t need a reassuring smile, that just lets her know she isn’t hiding it.

Murphy drops down to sit next to Connor on the bed, looking between the sitting Bellamy and Clarke. The Jasper thing hadn’t actually ended with a beating, so he’s willing to push his luck again.

He’s helping.

“You look like shit,” Murphy tells Connor. He doesn’t know him well. Just that they were both known for getting into fights and if that’s what Murphy needed he was an easy target.

“Float yourself, Murphy,” Connor snarls. Great, he’s not the forgiving type.

“You sure you want those to be your last words? I mean, Clarke’s great and all, but she’s not actually a doctor,” Murphy says, bravely ignoring Bellamy and Clarke’s glares.

“Murphy, walk away,” Bellamy orders.

Murphy ignores that too. “Just, look at my arm, that’s as good as an actually trained doctor could do down here and you’re cool with her sticking -”

“Murphy,” Clarke says and there’s Hainofi. “Go wait on the top floor of the dropship until we’re done here.”

Oh, yeah, Hainofi can get kinda ... actually, Murphy’s never seen her get all Hainofi for a reason that isn’t punishing him. Eh, Bellamy and Connor should be fine. Clarke’s completely focused now.

There’s no reason to argue, he’s got what he wanted. “Sure thing, Hainofi,” he says, he can explain himself later, get out of punishment again. “Just try not to kill either of these idiots.”

Jasper, Monty and Octavia are reuniting and don’t seem to much appreciate Murphy’s presence, but they’re way less scary than Clarke and Bellamy, so they’ll just have to deal.

“Murphy, get out,” Octavia says.

Oh, for - if they really want to do this ‘anyone can give him orders’ thing, they’re all going to have to decide whose orders take priority.

“Sure, you can be the one to interrupt Clarke in the middle of a blood transfusion to tell her why I’m disobeying her,” Murphy tells her, not making any actual move to leave.

“Ignore him,” Monty says, putting a hand on Octavia’s arm.

Jasper doesn’t say anything, which is as good as an invitation to stay in Murphy’s book. That guy has never hesitated to act on his feelings.

“How, um, how are you feeling?” Monty asks Octavia, when Murphy has taken a seat off to the side, holding his hands up to show they’re empty.

“I’m okay,” Octavia says with a smile.

She’s not lying and that concerns Murphy.

“Seriously,” she says when neither Monty nor Jasper are convinced. “There was a lot of adrenaline, but now it’s worn off and I’m good. Not even as much as bruise.”

“Physically, sure,” Jasper says, “but, like, you don’t ... you don’t just walk away from killing someone, even a Wallace. Ask Monty.”

Octavia looks confused, then defensive. “Cage didn’t spend any time pretending to be my family, that’s different!”

“Let it go, boys,” Murphy drawls, unable to watch them argue about having different experiences. “She doesn’t feel guilty, lucky her, be nice not to have a conscience.”

All that does is turn all three of them on him.

“How would you know anything?” Jasper asks. “You’ve failed every time you’ve tried to kill anyone!”

“I have a conscience!” Octavia snaps. “I didn’t want to kill Cage and Tsing, I was saving people!”

“Murphy, just stay out of this,” Monty tells him wearily.

“I’m trying to help,” Murphy tells them, feeling his eyes prickle uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, okay? I don’t want you to argue and you were ‘cause you didn’t understand each others stupid feelings, so I told you and - and that just made you mad at me instead. So - go have your dumb argument about nothing, ‘cause I have to stay here, ‘cause Clarke and Bellamy are mad at me for trying to help too. I guess I’m just really shit at it. I don’t even know why I’m trying.”

Octavia looks completely lost, Monty looks uncertain, but Jasper - Jasper goes straight to the top of Murphy’s list of favorite people. He strides over, crouches in front of Murphy and grabs his shoulders. “Technique could use a lot of work, but speaking as someone you stopped from making a huge mistake, I’m grateful you’re trying. You tell people things they don’t want to hear, true things, and we don’t like it. Always thought I’d prefer a harsh truth to a pretty lie, until I met you and Finn. Clarke and Raven, they’re working on making Finn more like you and they don’t even realize that’s the end result.”

Murphy snorts, trying to keep his usual sour tone. “People keep comparing me to Finn. I’d be flattered, but it’s always ways I’m different.”

“You want to be like Finn?” Jasper asks dismissively. “Finn has destroyed any chance he had with Clarke or Raven, come up with plans somehow worse than yours, proved himself a coward and spends his time up a tree to avoid having to talk to anyone.”

Murphy gives him a one shoulder shrug. “People like him and he’s useful up the tree. Took his punishment, now it’s over. Besides, he’s pretty.”

“Not as pretty as Bellamy,” Jasper says, then shows instant regret.

“No one’s as pretty as Bellamy,” Murphy returns, holding back on making it sharp, “or as good at getting forgiveness.”

“It’s because they act like they deserve it,” Monty says quietly. “Forgiveness, not punishment.”

“I don’t lie to myself,” Murphy tells him defensively. “I know what I deserve.”

“When does it end?” Jasper asks. “At what point do you say you’ve taken enough? Bellamy has his tally, Finn wins when he works out he can walk away, me and Monty get our weapons back when ... I - I guess Mount Weather might not be destroyed, but when there’s peace, when we don’t need them any more, and we can hang them on the wall wherever we make our home and let them gather dust. When does your arrangement with Bellamy end?”

“Next time he breaks my arm.” Murphy can’t look away from Jasper, meeting his eyes though it hurts to be seen. It’s real, unlike that first time with Bellamy and it’s unasked for. He’s wanted it so long, but he hadn’t thought about how it would feel. “Next time he betrays me.”

“And then you go looking for someone else to punish you,” Jasper predicts, “or maybe you stick around again, keep at Bellamy until one of you kills the other, then, if you’re the survivor, you go looking for someone to punish you for killing him. What the hell did you do, Murphy? I know what I did that I can’t forgive. What did you do?”

It’s not easy to answer, just compulsory. “I killed my father,” Murphy tells him. He hadn’t known that was the answer either. “I killed him. I was sick and he - he stole for me, medicine, wrong damn type, didn’t even work, I got better on my own, he got caught, floated - mother, my mom, drank herself to death - blamed me, I blamed me too, and for her. Wasn’t no point trying to be good after that. No one cared either way and - and I was already a monster.”

“You’re going to hate me a little for saying this,” Jasper tells him. “Just remember, that’s how we feel when you help, so I hope you can forgive me. That said ... get over it. If you can’t convince yourself it wasn’t your fault, that your mom and dad made their own choices and you were a floating kid, then go to Bellamy or Clarke or Miller or you had a thing with Atom, right? Go to someone and ask them to punish you for it. Don’t reckon you even need to tell them what for, long as you know. Take your punishment, then it’s over. And you can stop taking it out on everyone else. Stop acting out just to get punished. And if you’re planning on punching me right now, I got some hits in on you myself last night, so I get it.”

Murphy doesn’t hit Jasper. It’s much worse. He bursts into tears.

And Jasper, the absolute bastard, hugs him.

He’s a scrawny fuck, all elbows and ribs.

Crying hasn’t made Murphy deaf, so he hears Octavia say to Monty, “You were right, he does get intense when he cares.”

“Of course I was,” Monty says. “Known him long enough. I mean, there’s worthier causes than Murphy, but ...”

“There’s worthier causes than me too,” Octavia tells him, a little angrily.

“He’d fight them all if they let him,” Monty replies sadly.

“I’ll fight you too, asses, if you don’t shut up,” Jasper informs them. “I owe Murphy for stopping me last night and I owe Octavia for getting me through Mount Weather. Friendship, family, it’s just trading favors until you both lose track, but don’t mind doing them anyway.”

“You want to be my friend?” Murphy asks. It’s an absurd thought, if not a funny one.

He can hear Jasper’s eye roll. “You are my friend already, understood? And if you’re planning exactly how you can screw this up in order to have something else to beat yourself up about, stop it.”

Murphy stops it.

Doesn’t mean he won’t do it though.

 

“How are we supposed to tell the Grounders about this?” Abby asks Thelonious.

“We don’t have to,” Shumway reports, pushing into the room in time to hear the question. “Some kids were playing music through the Ark system, McIntyre really meant every channel. It’s chaos out there. There were some Grounders trapped inside when I gave the order to close the gate and we had to imprison them before anyone got hurt. Kali and Indra are at the gate demanding we release them. I’ve no problem with that if that’s what the Chancellor decides, but we had to arrest some of The Hundred for getting in our way, what are we supposed to do with them? They’ve made it clear they’re still unwilling to submit to Ark Law.”

“Open the gates,” Abby orders. “Open the gates and let everyone you are holding go.”

Thelonious holds up a hand. “Abby, I ask you to remember who is Chancellor here. This peace your daughter has assassinated a political leader for, the Grounders will never accept it. How many of their people have they lost to Mount Weather? It doesn’t matter who leads the Mountain Men or what Clarke thinks she’s doing, we have committed to this war. Abby, you were the one to persuade me when Diana advised caution. It was presented to me as the only way to peace with the Grounders, was that a lie?”

“No, Chancellor,” Abby says, “but I did not believe then there was a way to peace with Mount Weather.”

“There isn’t,” Thelonious tells her. “Kill one leader and another takes his place exactly the same. Whoever replaces Cage Wallace, he’ll be even more dedicated to wiping us out for the insult. McIntyre and Clarke are loose cannons, they’re causing trouble, making things worse while they play at war. Abigail, get your own daughter under control before you advise me on how to control my people.”

“Clarke’s winning this war for us, Thelonious,” Abby says, “while we sit behind our gates and imprison our own people for protecting our allies! If Mount Weather surrenders -”

“Mount Weather will never surrender, not to a child! You’ve left me no choice, Abby. Commander Shumway, take Doctor Griffin to the - wherever you’re holding the Grounders and Delinquents. Turn the Grounders over to Kali and Indra, then close the gate behind them. The Delinquents and Doctor Griffin will remain imprisoned until this war is truly over.”

Abby doesn’t resist as Shumway grabs her arm. “Thelonious, Kane told me he had no choice either. I told him then that there’s always a choice, that you make another option. There’s another option here, peace, with the Grounders and the Mountain. Clarke’s a better Chancellor than you’ll ever be.”

“I’m going to bring her home, safe,” Thelonious promises. “Her and her band of outlaws will be pardoned as long as they come peacefully.”

“And if they don’t? What happens to the ones that don’t?” Abby looks around the room for support.

Sydney and Shumway are delighted, but Sinclair gives her a little nod. It’d be suicide for him to speak up now, but just being in a cell isn’t going to be nearly enough to stop Abby, he’ll be more useful outside.

“At worst, Clarke will be knocked unconscious, but she’s a smart girl, she’ll come along,” Thelonious reassures her.

He doesn’t say anything about any of the others. Abby allows Shumway to lead her away.

Clarke’s a lot like her mother.

Any of her people refuse to go quietly and Clarke’s resisting with them.

Abby’s seen Wells’ list, the real one, the one that includes Raven and has Bellamy instead of Dax, and she’s learned everything she can about the names on it. Youngest zero grav mechanic in over fifty years, the girl who hid under the floor for sixteen, Spacewalker, the man who shot the Chancellor. Thelonious might have been talking to the Grounders, but Abby’s been listening. She’s heard the stories and the names, already twisted into something like myth. Cage Breaker, Bodyguard, Heartstarter, Cockroach.

Hainofi.

Thelonious is severely underestimating them. Just like he’d underestimated Wells.

But they don’t have time to play along with Thelonious’ game. She needs to get a message to Clarke warning them that a team is coming for them instead of to help them and she needs to get that message to them faster than the team Shumway will organize as soon as possible.

It’s a two day journey on foot, half that by horse. The Arkers won’t take horses, too Grounder. A rider could get to Clarke in time, even if Abby sends them later than the team sets off.

But that’s too Grounder.

It’s a back up plan, reliant on finding both a horse and someone to ride the damn thing. Abby is as certain as Thelonious that Indra and Kali will be on his side. She has no allies among the Grounders now.

Which leaves the Arker option.

Harper McIntyre had been confident her message would get to Clarke. Abby just needs a radio to send one too.

Good thing she’s got the head engineer on her side.

 

The guards find Atom a spare uniform and he grins at Maya, standing obviously awkwardly. “No one’s ever tried to put me in a uniform besides prison before,” he tells her. “Pretty sure no one else could convince me.”

Maya’s still in her blood spotted pajamas. Maybe that’s a uniform too, now. Fifty years from now all Presidents will sprinkle a few drops of blood over their nightwear and stand at the same podium in the dining room and address their people.

If they survive her. If they don’t escape.

If Maya can change the rules.

It’s a funny image though. Enough to let her legs unlock and walk to the podium.

Atom and Lee at either shoulder helps too.

There’s actual adults in the audience, but they’re all looking to her. Waiting for her to save them.

“You all know me,” Maya tells them, “you knew both my fathers and my mother. You know I befriended the Outsiders that betrayed us. That I helped them with that betrayal. You recognize Lee, but the man on my other side, he’s an Outsider. His name is Atom.

“He was a prisoner. Tortured by Doctor Tsing on Cage Wallace’s orders in an attempt to find a way to the Surface. I don’t know how many of you know this already, but they found one. Bone marrow transplants. Not just any Outsider though, Atom ...”

Maya briefly wishes his name wasn’t quite so sci fi. She could have said this about a Charlotte or a Monty with a straight face.

“Atom’s people are from space. They’ve ...” This is the worst. “They’ve evolved to better withstand radiation. That’s what was different about Jasper, Monty and Octavia. Harper McIntyre, who you all heard over the speakers, she’s one too. There’s a hundred. Exactly one hundred. Sent in a lifeboat to the Surface from the other direction.

“None of them are older than eighteen.”

There’s gasps around the room as they actually look at Atom and see past the fact they don’t know him and the guard’s uniform.

“Despite the things we have done to him and his people, Atom volunteered to stay and donate more bone marrow. Three others have done the same. Five refused and left, unopposed. During their experiments Tsing and Cage killed three of their test subjects.

“They didn’t have enough for everyone when they started.

“We - we don’t know what effect anesthetic will have on the process.”

More gasps as the audience realizes what that means.

“But it will be used in future extractions.

“I won’t allow more needless suffering.

“Atom gave me the treatment. My first trip to the Surface will be to meet Hainofi Clarke Griffin to discuss peace. The first term I will raise will be for trade for further donations.

“I’m not a Wallace, no matter what Cage put on my official file. My mother and father both died, because they would not hurt another to save themselves. I didn’t save them. I’m sorry, but I won’t hurt another to save you either.”

“Outsider!” someone shouts from the crowd.

“I was born in the Mountain, I’ve never seen the sky ...” Maya says, only to be shoved aside by Atom.

“Shut the fuck up,” Atom tells them, shocking any more hecklers into silence. “I met Maya when I was strapped to an operating table having all my blood replaced. There was a scalpel, right there, next to her. Tsing and Cage, both backs to her. And you know what she did? She held my hand and asked what my name was. Don’t reckon she even saw the scalpel.

“’Cause she’s kind. Better person than me.

“’Cause the person who would hurt another for you stuck a twelve year old in a cage smaller than this podium. ‘Cause there was an accident and now that twelve year old thinks she’s a murderer. One tear in a suit while he tried to drag her away and Carter’s dead.

“If Cage had sent people to talk first - can’t say we’d have agreed, not all of us, but I can say Carter wouldn’t be dead. Jason wouldn’t be dead. Lisa Ann wouldn’t be dead. Sterling wouldn’t be dead.

“Maya don’t give a shit about Mountain versus Grounder versus Arker, just about people. So, that’s why I’m here. ‘Cause I want to be someone Maya would like. I wasn’t a good person. Sitting in prison waiting to turn eighteen so they could legally execute me. Don’t give you many opportunities for kindness.

“Or that’s what I thought until Maya showed me otherwise.

“Don’t know if that makes her a good leader or the person who’s gonna lead you all to the Ground, but I know it makes her a good person and I’m with her the whole way.

“I believe in Maya Vie.”

Atom nods, glaring at the audience, daring them to challenge him, then steps aside for her. He won’t look at her, too embarrassed. It’s kind of sweet.

Maya has no idea how to follow that, but then again she’d had no idea how to go before it either.

“Adam and Vie!” someone shouts, quite possibly the same heckler from before, and the cry is taken up around the room.

Atom shrugs at her, then grabs her hand and holds it high. “Adam and Vie!” he yells, defiant, reckless, stepping into the darkness with her, unable to tell if there’s safe ground or a cliff just steps ahead.

“Adam and Vie!” Maya yells along, laughing.

Cage is dead, she’s in her pajamas and they could all die in the morning.

She’s never been happier.

 

Kath misses Alicia. They’d never been close before, but Kath had been okay friends with Kath’s girlfriend, Maple, on Factory before she’d been sent to the Skybox and Alicia had been pulling together anyone she knew by sight that didn’t have anyone to stay with into a single bunk room.

Alicia is the kind of person who organizes in the aftermath of disaster. Kath is the kind of person who babbles about socks.

She has no idea what made Wells pick her, it can’t be that he like likes her, not after the fiasco of his invitation and the fact he’s ignored her the entire trip. She’s got nothing to offer. She’s not a doctor or a fighter or a diplomat or whatever Mike is, some kind of animal expert apparently.

Kath is just someone who once had access to some horrible chemicals and worked an apprenticeship in the canteen. She can cook, but not out here, not with open fire and ingredients you have to skin yourself. She can read the label on a bottle of chemicals and identify the contents, but there aren’t any handy labels here, just leaves and stuff.

How exactly had she convinced Wells she was competent? And why hadn’t she said no when it was clarified that he wasn’t asking her on a date?

The gates of Polis are opening in front of them though and she can’t turn back and there’s nothing to go back for anyway.

The woman who meets them, mounted though she can only have come from the huge tower a few hundred meters away, is so young. Kath doubts she’s older than twenty five. It’s a good sign, if their Heda is young it means they’re more likely to take Wells seriously.

“Wells, Bandrona kom Skaikru, we’ve heard of your victory over Maun-de and welcome you and your people to Polis.”

Their victory over Mount Weather? Judging by Wells’ expression he didn’t know either.

“Ah, Heda,” Wells says with an awkward bow in the saddle. “We’ve been travelling and this news had not yet reached us.”

“Oh, I assumed you’d have a Tekamin with you,” Heda says. “The Spirits of the Commanders brought me a message three nights ago. From Harper McIntyre. Your Hainofi Clarke has started peace talks with Maunon.”

Harper McIntyre? How had Harper McIntyre got involved in war and spirits and ...?

How had Kath Colonna?

“In my time as Heda, I have done the impossible. I have even brought Azgeda into the Coalition, but you - Skaikru, are something different,” Heda is looking at them as though she’s trying to figure out if they’re dangerous or just interesting. “No one can agree on what you are. Allies to my Coalition I hope.”

“I hope the same, Heda,” Wells says.

There’s some signal and they’re finally allowed inside. Artigas is there to catch her with a grin when Kath falls out of her saddle. “You need practice, Meiz,” he tells her.

She’s just accepted that that’s what he calls her at this point. “I do not,” she replies. “See, here I am, in Polis, I don’t need to even look at a horse until I have to go back.”

“You won’t get to see anything but Polis if you do,” Artigas says, offering her his arm.

There’s a lot to see even in the short walk from the stable to the tower. There’s so much color and everything smells. Kath isn’t entirely sure she likes it. Artigas’ enjoyment in pointing things out to her makes it much better though.

 

Harper sits in the library and hopes she’s done the right thing. It’s what Clarke and her father had tried to do on the Ark, get the truth out so everyone knew.

This isn’t the Ark, despite certain similarities. Everyone here knew what was going on, they just refused to speak about it. Harper’s forced a break in that silence.

She can’t stay.

She’s either saved Mount Weather or doomed it and right now she’s not sure which she wants.

Cage Wallace is dead. Dante Wallace is dead. They have no Outsiders.

What they should all do is walk away.

Leave Mount Weather to sort themselves out. This was never any of their business, but Jasper, Monty and Octavia had to run away from where they were safe with Podakru and get themselves captured.

Everything since then has been their fault.

Harper considers setting something on fire on her way out. Jasper got to blow it up, Octavia got to kill people, Monty ... Monty got a cool suit.

They’ve all got to be at the dropship or on their way there. If Clarke got her message that’s where she’ll have taken her people too. Octavia knows both places, she’ll know the dropship is better for caring for injured and then she can go fetch Clarke.

But there might still be people at the cave.

Harper can’t cope with people right now.

She goes to Finn’s bunker.

She takes some books with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I see that the Nia is Queen, Roan is Prince and becomes King situation doesn't actually _need_ explaining ... I have anyway. Azgeda inexplicably having gendered titles just didn't fit with everything else known about Grounder culture. So, uh, this version assumes those translations were a mistaken assumption on the part of the Arkers. Especially since the literal translations aren't gendered at all.
> 
> Haiplana: 1st, Hainofi becomes Haiplana, Princess becomes Queen  
> Haihefa: 2nd, Hainofa becomes Haihefa, Prince becomes King  
> Hainofi: 3rd, Haiplana was Hainofi, Queen was Princess  
> Hainofa: 4th, Haihefa was Hainofa, King was Prince
> 
> Haiplana and Haihefa rule together, King and Queen rule together
> 
> None of that requires anyone to be a specific gender.
> 
> Wormana and Setneshona somehow became the default main pair of advisors. External and internal.
> 
> Any guesses on who the next person Raven sleeps with is going to be?
> 
> Sleeps with naturally means 'gives hand job in the middle of a meeting' ... The sequel took a sharp turn towards sexual content. Personally I blame Finn, but there's a strong argument for it being Bree and Roma's fault. Or, you know, mine.
> 
> There's not as much as it felt like there was when I wrote it though. Still mature rather than explicit I think.
> 
> Try saying "Atom's people are from space. They've evolved to better withstand radiation." without feeling a little bit like you're auditioning for a B-movie entitled something like _The Outsiders From Space!_


	14. Heda kom Kongeda

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll assume you all know what Heda means and if you don't I'm a bit confused as to why you're reading this. Still mandatory translation: Commander of the Coalition.
> 
> Which, yes, Lexa. However you feel about that. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
> 
> Last chapter before I looked at it and went 'shit, I need to write a sequel?'
> 
> Some things are tied up, tragically fewer people are.

Clarke finishes with Bellamy and Connor, directs Myles and Octavia into making sure they get fed and don’t over-exert themselves. It takes Octavia to stop Bellamy heading up to knock some sense into Murphy. She seems kind of smug about getting to be the one to fuss over her big brother for once. Insisting on pretending the spoon is an airplane is a little too far, though the general amusement at Bellamy’s humiliation is doing wonders for morale.

She’s still got two more transfusions to go, then she’s got to deal with Murphy, though the longer she leaves him to stew the more likely he is to get the message, hopefully Harper will have shown up by then or they’ll have heard something new on the radio, and Clarke would really like to have a meeting with as many of the group as she can about what to say during the peace talk, assuming that even happens.

Raven is tidying the beds they don’t even have people for.

Clarke wants to look the other way and go focus on something, anything, else, but Hainofi is already halfway towards her. “Raven, get some sleep,” Hainofi orders while Clarke dies of embarrassment. “It’s been a hell of a night, I need you coherent tomorrow, I mean later today, whichever.”

“I’m fine,” Raven says, not bothering to look up.

“I didn’t ask,” Hainofi tells her. “I gave you an order. Either follow it or I waste more time spanking you and then you follow it.”

The whole room goes quiet. Clarke may well never emerge from hiding, but Hainofi stares each of them down in turn. No one lasts more than a couple of seconds, even Octavia. Atom’s lot aren’t the only ones who look shocked.

“Raven?” Hainofi asks.

She can see how much of a struggle it is for Raven, her instincts telling her to tell Clarke to go float herself. Raven submits though, with a nod, sits on the nearest empty bed and starts untying her shoelaces.

“Clarke,” Miller says quietly, the only one brave enough to approach her. “Raven’s not the only one who’s been up all night stressing. Maybe you should -”

“You don’t give me orders,” Hainofi tells him.

“No, sir,” Miller says. “Mbege, Shoana, you okay for a bit?”

Both of them nod quickly.

“Lisa, Finn, get some food into them. Clarke …” Miller takes a deep breath, bracing himself. She can tell exactly what he’s about to do. He wants to do this in private. She doesn’t mind, it’d just disrupt the others’ rest.

“Miller, with me,” Clarke interrupts, sweeping past him to climb the ladder.

He actually sighs in relief. Clarke doesn’t understand, she’s perfectly in control.

Of everything.

At least Murphy had followed her last order to him without questioning her. He, Monty and Jasper are huddled together, talking fast and quietly. Still more of an audience than necessary.

“Monty, Jasper, go rest up,” Clarke tells them. For some reason they look to Miller for confirmation before obeying. He’s trying to undermine her. Only one of her Council she’s never considered punishing. Clearly that was a mistake.

“Aw, shit,” Murphy says. “My bad, thought Hainofi would help with the transfusion. Keep her calm.”

“She’s calm,” Miller says. He doesn’t make it sound like a good thing, but how could that be bad?

“I can hear you, you know,” Clarke tells them. “Is there a problem? Because Mbege and Shoana could do with -”

“They’ll be fine,” Miller says. “Connor had it worst and you’ve helped him …”

“Miller, shut up,” Murphy interrupts in turn. “Won’t be pretty, I’m not Finn, but I got this.”

As far as Clarke knows there’s nothing to get. And what does Finn have to do with anything? “Tell me what the hell is going on,” she demands.

Instead of answering with words, Murphy rolls his eyes and drops to his knees at her feet.

It feels right.

 

“What’s happening?” one of the imprisoned Delinquents asks Abby when she’s pushed inside with them.

“They’re releasing the Grounders,” Abby tells her. “Only the Grounders. I argued.”

The girl nods and pulls a Grounder girl aside from the group. “I’m Roma. Niylah, this is Doctor Griffin, one of our hedas, Abby this is Niylah, my, uh …”

“Lover,” Niylah says unashamed. “What’s the plan? Bree and Fox avoided arrest. Fox can get between the camps even if they keep the gates shut.”

Abby blinks at the two girls, she hadn’t told them she was planning anything or even what she’s aiming for, but they’re both looking to her for instructions because she argued on their behalf. “I need a radio,” she says. “Sinclair will help. It’d be best if he doesn’t have to visit me at all.”

Niylah nods and goes to join the other Grounders filing out of the cell.

“Can I trust her?” Abby asks Roma, who honestly she’s not sure she can trust either.

Roma smiles. “She’s not a warrior, she’s a refugee. All she wants is this war to end so she can go back to her little trading post in the north east. If your daughter can bring that peace she’ll help both of you.”

That makes sense, but how does Roma know this is about Clarke?

“I need the radio to warn Clarke that the Chancellor has decided to send guards to bring her people back. He has no intention of honoring Harper’s promises and he thinks Kali and Indra will agree.” Abby wouldn’t have looked for allies inside this cell, but Roma had offered and, well, she reminds her of Clarke.

“Bastard,” Roman mutters and Abby doesn’t bother to disagree. “So we’re buying time for Clarke to negotiate. Get a message through so she isn’t captured, delay the guards sent after her and then delay the mobilization of the army. Sinclair’s your ally on the Council?”

Abby nods, she hadn’t actually thought beyond getting the message through. “Sinclair has a daughter out there too. Sydney, getting an alliance with her is about as likely as getting me and Kane to work together and that’s happened. I don’t like it, not after, well, she did something bad and it means I can’t trust her, but trusting the Chancellor was a mistake. Right now, she’s backing the war because she thinks it’s the best chance for survival, she doesn’t trust Jaha either. Shumway likes the idea of playing General, but I can’t get them to turn on each other if I want either as an ally. Shumway was part of the thing Sydney did and she’ll come off worse if he talks. I’d say they weren’t worth even trying to turn, but politically there’s no one else.”

“Sydney was behind Bellamy shooting Chancellor Jaha?” Roma asks.

“How did you -?”

Roma grins. “I knew Bellamy well enough to know it was Shumway that gave him the gun and the order. Don’t worry, not everyone knows.”

Abby raises an eyebrow, of course the Delinquents know things that aren’t supposed to be public knowledge, simply because they were there. Like that half the ones who stayed behind couldn’t care less about the war or that Bellamy Blake is alive or that it was John Murphy not Wells Jaha to make that first alliance with the Grounders. That Clarke Griffin had been the one to break it.

She’s been thinking of those things as secrets, but just because Wells had told her quietly and privately so his father wouldn’t know, doesn’t mean it isn’t public knowledge. Thelonious still doesn’t know. Neither of them have been listening to what the people are saying.

If the saying about two people only keeping a secret if one is dead is true, seventy five juvenile offenders never stood a chance.

Abby hopes Sydney hasn’t been paying attention, because that would mean she knows Bellamy Blake is alive and able to point the finger at Shumway.

Shumway who is picking the group to send with permission to use as much force as necessary as long as Clarke survives.

If Niylah doesn’t get that message to Fox who can get it to Sinclair who then needs to get a radio to Abby within the next twenty four hours, Bellamy Blake will be killed resisting arrest.

No one will question that story and he’ll never be able to testify against Shumway.

Abby loses the only leverage she has against the pair.

Clarke loses one of her people.

“You’re wrong, though,” Roma says, “politically there’s a very important group you’ve forgotten about.”

“The people themselves,” Abby agrees. “I’d say a sudden outbreak of pacifism would cause delays, don’t you?”

“Knew there was a reason I was planning to vote for you,” Roma tells her. “You saved us. The Delinquents. Sending us to Earth saved our lives and set us free. We followed Bellamy for the promise of a freedom we already had, we followed Wells for the promise of safety, we followed Clarke - mainly because Wells told us to and we’ll follow you, for giving us both, in the hope of getting them back. You’ve got seventy teenage criminals and the head engineer at your disposal and your goal is to cause delays? Jaha’s army isn’t going anywhere. If he can even make one.”

 

“Murphy, what are you doing?” Clarke asks him.

Well, this should be fun, Murphy doesn’t even much like Clarke, but if she’s acting weird enough that Miller has turned to him for help, he kinda has to. Far as he knows this is what Clarke is like most of the time, she’s nearly always been angry with him or wanting him to do something before.

Then again he’d also been there when she’d allowed Miller to punish her for making a bad call.

This Clarke, Hainofi or whatever, is the one who is certain she knows what’s best for everyone. The one who dragged him away from the post to get his arm checked instead of the one who had pretended to make a mistake to improve things between him and Bellamy.

One had made things worse and the other had made things better.

Simple.

He ignores her question, talking quickly to Miller instead. “Stay and shut up or go and risk her stopping you. Don’t interfere unless I say, uh, odon, Grounder word for enough.”

“Stop ignoring me,” Clarke says and then she grabs his hair to tug him round to look at her. It’s a move he’d expect from Bellamy and that’s another sign she needs to get this out of her system. Lucky him, being the only one with any experience Clarke hasn’t already slept with. Not that he’s planning on sleeping with her, be like screwing someone drunk you knew wouldn’t agree sober.

“Why? You got anything but stupid questions to say?” Murphy asks. Finn would have apologized, he’s a good boy. Like he said, he doesn’t do pretty.

Clarke lets go of his hair shoving his head forward, he leaves it slightly bowed. “I thought sending you up here out of the way would have given you time to reconsider your insubordination from earlier.”

Their styles aren’t going to mix well. If this was about Murphy, he’d ... well, he’d have already walked away in the most dramatic way he could find. He has, at least three times. Fun would be a different matter again.

But this is about Clarke. And she needs his obedience. And she can’t take it.

He’s not sure he can give it. “I have reconsidered ...” Nope, he can’t call her sir, not seriously and politely. Never used it as anything but an insult before. “Hainofi.”

“I find that difficult to believe,” she tells him, “given every word you’ve said since.”

“I was expecting you to send Bellamy, Hainofi,” Murphy says, not entirely untruthfully, then adds rather less honestly, “any disrespect was intended for him.”

“Is that supposed to excuse it?”

Murphy winces, she won’t take well to being told it was because he doubted her ability, but she’ll feel guilty later if she punishes him for something that minor. He either needs to talk her down or go all out and actually earn it. It’s not hard to guess which one he has the ability to do.

Why does he care if Clarke feels guilty later?

He should keep doing his best Finn impression, pushing her into punishing him worse is just going to make her feel more guilty ... if she realizes that was his motivation. There’s a good chance he’ll screw it up, though, fail and make it worse accidentally.

May as well stick to his strengths.

Earn it and take it.

Murphy scowls up at Clarke. “Bellamy can’t be persuaded to stop, you’re nicer. May as well tell him how I feel if I’m getting beaten either way.”

“You’re only being good now to get out of punishment?” Clarke asks.

That was much much easier than Murphy is entirely comfortable about. He doesn’t like that she’d believe that of him, let alone jump to that conclusion with next to no pushing from him. He supposes with Finn ‘never confess unless caught’ Collins and Bellamy ‘murderous prison break’ Blake as her main prior experience it’s a reasonable assumption, but when has Murphy himself ever tried to get out of anything. Into worse or more, sure, but never out.

“No,” he says, a sarcastic truth can be as good as a perfectly crafted lie. “I’m being good in the hope you’ll hit me harder.”

“I’m not going to hit you, Murphy.”

She isn’t?

“If hitting you worked, you’d have never even ended up in the Skybox,” Clarke points out.

She’s not wrong, but Murphy is pretty sure not getting hit would have ended with him in the Skybox far sooner. Not like anything else had worked either.

He’s not too worried about her giving up on him, though. Hainofi thinks she can do anything. It’s the not knowing that’s making him nervous. Clarke’s messing with his head on purpose.

Bitch.

“So you’re going to get Miller or Bellamy to do it for you so your hands don’t get dirty, what else is new?” Murphy is still kneeling, but his head is thrown back arrogantly. Two conflicting instincts, one telling him to get the hell up and show her exactly how it feels to be hit and the other telling him to beg for forgiveness, are both unhappy with this, but he’s been ignoring those for long enough it’s almost easy.

“Wrong again,” Clarke says a little viciously. “You need to learn to show respect. Whatever I do to you now, once it’s done you’ll be polite, but soon enough you’ll just slip into old habits. Same thing Finn does. So, same method. New rule, you show respect to every one of my kru, they still have blanket permission to punish you in my place. They’ll be told.”

Murphy really doesn’t think showing respect is something he wants or needs to learn. Clarke doesn’t like lies either and that’s the alternative. If he doesn’t respect someone, he’s not going to pretend he does just to spare their hurt feelings. He might have given up control of any choice, but he’d given that to Bellamy. Bellamy who needs the honesty too much to try and train it out of him.

Not that Clarke doesn’t need it. She’s just not going to listen.

And, yeah, he’d gone too far earlier. Pushed her into the Hainofi mindset so she’d stop doubting herself or caring what people thought of her. Should have just told her and hoped she had the common sense to not operate on Connor and Bellamy. Only he’d known she didn’t have that sense. She wants to try and train him out of manipulating instead of supporting, sure he’d sign up to that.

He’s not signing up to curtsy and tip his hat at every idiot stray Clarke takes in. He respects them too much to do that.

It’s just, right now, anything out of his mouth that isn’t a polite acceptance is going to convince her he needs it even more and she needs a win, someone to submit to her, so she can stop trying on anything that crosses her path.

“I don’t think lack of respect is the issue,” Murphy says, knowing it’s futile.

“I didn’t say you lacked it, just that you refuse to show it,” Clarke tells him. “I understand you’re used to those in authority letting you down, they didn’t deserve your respect, I’m not upset about that, but we’re not the people who hurt you.”

Murphy laughs at her. “Bellamy is one of your people.”

Raven had made him feel unsafe, Clarke had chosen to treat his arm and not his guilt, Jasper would have committed genocide if Murphy had respected him, Monty could easily break too, Finn frequently needs reminding he’s being an ass, Harper needs reminding to get her nose out of other people’s business, Octavia is terrifying and needs reminders that killing people isn’t socially acceptable. Miller is the only one of the damn lot of them Murphy doesn’t have a problem with showing his respect to.

“Bellamy is working towards not repeating his mistakes,” Clarke says.

Which is exactly why he needs someone willing to remind him of them. The tally was for exactly that purpose even.

“Then I suppose I have to work towards not repeating mine,” like letting Clarke decide his punishment, “can’t let Bellamy beat me,” Murphy jokes, deadpan.

To his surprise, Clarke has to smother a laugh at that. Sure, people find him funny, but Clarke’s, like, got taste. She doesn’t like terrible puns. She certainly doesn’t like jokes at other people’s expenses.

Okay, new goal, get his insubordination to make Clarke laugh.

If she realizes she can agree someone deserves no respect, she can’t keep asking him to show false respect.

“I’ll try, Hainofi,” Murphy says.

“That includes respect for yourself,” Clarke adds. “No more stuff like saying touching you would get my hands dirty or calling yourself a bad person.”

That’s just a confusing order. Murphy has as much intention of getting out of that clause as the rest. He’s not going to start lying about himself either.

“And quit calling me Hainofi,” Clarke says, enough of an indication she’s back to herself that Murphy feels confident glancing smugly at Miller.

“Just trying to show respect, Hainofi,” Murphy says.

Clarke rolls her eyes and offers him a hand up. “Of course you immediately figure out a way to show disrespect while pretending to show respect. Consider that your one free pass. No, don’t you dare pretend you don’t know what I mean. Only use a title if you respect the title too.”

“Yes, Clarke,” Murphy says, finding enough actual respect for her that it doesn’t stick in his throat.

She smiles at him and it’s almost worth lying for, only then he doesn’t deserve it.

This is going to seriously suck.

 

It’d be true to say Polis isn’t what Wells expected, mainly because he’d deliberately stopped himself coming up with an expectation. 

Interestingly, given he’s the only one to have visited before, Lincoln is the most tense and obviously unhappy. Kath has her Grounder friend to guide her, Wells will need to interrogate her about what Artigas has told her later. Jones and Jackson are having a quiet conversation. Mike is telling some Grounder kid who clearly doesn’t understand him all about their horses as the kid tries to care for them.

Wells goes to rescue the Grounder kid. “Hey, Mike, I was wondering if you could help me figure out who to talk to to find where we’re supposed to go?” He already knows, they’ve been assigned a ‘badana’ named Ordri, a woman his father’s age nearly as emotive as Lincoln, but there’s only so much time you can get away with wandering into places under the guise of being lost.

It seems Ordri knows that trick, because she cuts them off before they can leave the stable. “If you’re done here, please allow me to show you to your rooms,” she says, not even bothering to pretend they have a choice.

All Wells can do is smile politely and thank her.

Someone must have sent word ahead about the size of their group and that none of those involved were, well, involved, because they’re herded into a suite with five bedrooms surrounding a central living area. None of them have any actual unpacking to do, preferring to keep what few items they have in their bags.

The six of them sit in a circle of chairs in the main room and look at each other. They’re near strangers in an even stranger land.

It’s different from the hundred, there were already existing relationships. It’s different from Clarke’s Council, they’d been picked as those with skills presented themselves.

It’d almost be easier if they’d been thrown together by chance rather than Wells’ choice.

He’s searching for a neutral topic to start some form of conversation when Kath speaks first, “Apparently this tower is the tallest surviving structure from before the nuclear apocalypse, makes you wonder if it isn’t about to fall on us.”

“It’s lasted this long,” Jackson reassures her. “Looks more structurally sound than the Ark and that never fell in on us.”

“It’s different,” Kath says dismissively. “The Ark made its own gravity, it didn’t have all this pulling on it.”

Lincoln shakes his head. “You find the gravity strange? I can’t even imagine your Ark and I’ve seen it.”

“You’re not missing out or anything,” Kath tells him.

“Grey, metal, cramped,” Jones summarizes.

“Now, that much I saw,” Lincoln says.

“It’s much more beautiful here,” Mike says, shyly. “Even if it’s more dangerous.”

“I wouldn’t say more, just differently,” Jackson argues.

“People died quietly,” Jones agrees. “Less mess. They still died.”

“It sounds like peace,” Lincoln says.

“It wasn’t,” Wells says abruptly. “It was cold and it was uncaring and it was what was necessary for anyone to live. Here you fight each other, kill each other over whatever excuse you find. On the Ark we fought death, every life taken counting for five saved. That approach won’t work here and I can only hope my father realizes that before it’s too late.”

“Your father is a dick,” Kath tells him. “Sure it saved some, but those it saved all have the same story of someone they loved and lost. Floating or drink or suicide or sickness, doesn’t matter how, your father killed them all. It’s too late for him already. His only chance is to retire quietly, go back to being an engineer. See, it was Doctor Griffin who saved us, her and Vice Chancellor Kane, or that’s how it’s seen. Jaha isn’t the Chancellor who got us to the Ground, he’s the one who killed two hundred innocent people before they could.”

“Those people died to give Griffin and Kane time to make their idea work,” Wells counters.

“True, but what’s true doesn’t floating matter,” Kath replies and he remembers what had made him want to bring her. “What matters is what people think and they think Thelonious Jaha is their murderer and Abigail Griffin is their savior. And he knows that’s what they think, it’s why he hasn’t called a vote like the Ground Rules thing asks for.”

“The Exodus Charter,” Mike says helpfully.

“Whatever, that, it says there’s supposed to be a vote, elect the first Chancellor who will lead on the Ground. Only, there hasn’t been a vote, ‘cause Jaha thinks Doctor Griffin would win. Last Chancellor of the Ark doesn’t sound as good as First Chancellor of the Ground. This is gonna sound kinda dumb, but I don’t think he’s going to let Clarke negotiate any peace with anyone.”

Wells stares at her. “What do you mean?”

Kath bites her lip, clearly wishing she hadn’t said anything.

“I don’t think it sounds dumb,” Wells says. No, he thinks it sounds terrifying. He can’t choose between Clarke and his father.

“She’s Doctor Griffin’s daughter, right?” Kath attempts to explain. “So, Clarke’s victory is like her mother’s. If it was you making this peace, or even you and Clarke, it makes Jaha look good. Except he’s already agreed to a war and ‘cause Doctor Griffin isn’t Chancellor that’s on him. So, he backs down from the war and it looks like Doctor Griffin stopped him, that she’s got the power to. Doesn’t matter it’s Clarke’s war, Jaha needs to be the one to end it if he wants to keep power. If Clarke wasn’t Doctor Griffin’s daughter he could let her make the peace, then swoop in and take credit.”

It makes sense. More sense than Wells wants it to. It’s also incredibly stupid. Jaha not Kath.

Wells sighs. “Clarke won’t hand Jaha the credit. She won’t even understand why he wants it. He’ll know that too. Get her out of the way. Along with her people. She’ll survive, for many reasons, me among them. Bellamy won’t. He’s less of a liability, but there’s no personal connection, unless you count the time Bellamy shot him. Clarke won’t accept that. Not if she so much as suspects it wasn’t an accident. Kath, if you’re right, and knowing them you are, my best friend and my father are about to be on opposite sides of a fight I’m miles away from and can’t get back to in time to do anything about.”

“There’s always something you can do,” Jackson says, quoting Abby.

“There’s three gangs in this war,” Jones points out. “Pull the Grounders out. Two gangs, fair fight, Jaha backs down, can’t take Mount Weather alone. It’s like that stuff with you and Bellamy, y’know. Only if Bellamy was wearing, like, a suit of armor and you were both wrestling. Murphy’s the Grounders, never gonna team up with Bellamy, but he don’t trust you either. Stayed neutral and no one got anywhere.”

“I hope that metaphor doesn’t perfectly match the current situation,” Wells says drily. “Then again Murphy talking Mount Weather into surrendering would be an experience.”

“It was Harper,” Mike tells them, excited to be Contributing. “Who did the talking into surrendering. I asked Aden and he told me about the Commander’s vision.”

“Aden?” Wells asks.

“He’s one of the Natblidas,” Mike explains, unhelpfully.

“Nightbloods,” Lincoln translates. “Children taken from their homes and trained to fight for the day they have to kill each other to see who rules after Lexa.”

Mike looks rather less happy about his Contribution. “But that won’t be for ages yet, right? Lexa’s so young and Aden is the same age as me.”

“Lexa has already lasted longer than most Commanders,” Lincoln says without a trace of apology.

“Oh.” Mike stares at his feet.

“What did Harper say?” Kath asks before Wells can.

“Um, she said her name and then that Octavia had killed their Heda, Cage, to protect someone called Maya. Aden said Lexa said Harper said that Mount Weather was doing blood magic on Skaikru. I don’t quite understand that bit. Anyway, Harper told Mount Weather to hold a Conclave, which I guess is like a vote, because after they were told to send their new Heda, I mean leader, to talk to Clarke outside.” Mike frowns intently. “Oh, Harper took away the people they were holding prisoner, but there can’t have been any Grounders because of Jasper’s explosion.”

Lincoln translates again. “Blood magic, Mauntek, experiments like Cage Wallace did to make the Reapers. Like he did to me. He must’ve still been looking for a cure.”

“If Harper said to meet Clarke outside that could mean they found one,” Jackson points out.

“I doubt it,” Wells says, “using suits would give them a time limit, make them anxious to come to an agreement before they die. Clarke could insist on anything as long as she delayed until they were desperate.”

Jackson raises an eyebrow. “I don’t remember Clarke or Harper being quite that, um, pragmatic.”

Before it can become an argument, Lincoln diverts the conversation. “Maya is the one who helped Jasper, Monty and Octavia escape.”

“Monty and Jasper escaped?” Wells stares at Lincoln.

Lincoln stares back. “I assumed you knew. Since you knew about Octavia.”

Wells shakes his head. “Octavia showed up at camp and Clarke’s entire council plus Bellamy and Murphy followed her when she ran away. She said Monty and Jasper had stayed behind. It wasn’t Cage Wallace that was President then, it was Dante?”

“Monty killed Dante. He and Jasper ran. They saved me on the way. Showed them a safe place. Finn brought Clarke’s council there. Losi followed Murphy. I took Losi back to Indra. I don’t know who the other prisoners Harper saved were, but they can’t have been Monty and Jasper. Unless they were caught again.”

“Atom’s gang,” Jones suggests.

Kath nods quickly. “We weren’t exactly hiding the camp. Twelve idiots is a much easier target than a hundred idiots. If Clarke’s council was at this safe place ...”

“Okay,” Wells says. “This message supposedly from Harper via some ghosts. I don’t want to believe it, but it’s got too much stuff the Grounders couldn’t possibly know. Cage taking over from Dante. Maya’s name. Octavia and Harper being with Clarke. Cage’s experiments. The only theory I’ve got is that Heda Lexa has an old solar powered radio that picks up static and she listens to it and thinks it’s the Spirits of the Commanders. Must have been a shock to hear Harper speaking perfectly clearly.”

Lincoln snorts. “Who are you to say this static is not the Spirits of the Commanders?”

“Static is just the background noise of the universe,” Wells says, only considering the question seriously for a couple of seconds.

“You're lucky,” Lincoln tells him, “to see magic as mundane.”

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” Jackson says. “Arthur C. Clarke. And if that’s true, then what about the other way around? Magic studied until it becomes technology. We don’t know how gravity works. Is gravity magic? Or has it just not been studied enough yet? Perhaps don’t dismiss other theories so quickly. Even if they sound absurd.”

“Dead people are not talking to Lexa through a radio!” Wells snaps.

“How about a computer?” Jackson suggests. “Perhaps not the actual Commanders, but a computer with diaries and data from those Commanders. Voice files, video, advice left for those who will follow them. You can open a book and read the words of people long dead, what would you call a video, but a ghost of a person?”

“Okay, I accept there’s a rational explanation even if we don’t know it.” Wells holds up his hands. “I just have issues with the language of – of superstition.”

“Careful, bandrona,” Lincoln tells him. “Few here will appreciate you dismissing their belief. I don't appreciate it and I’m thought of as a heretic.”

It’s truly impressive how Lincoln can go from seeming like some dumb, placid herbivore to an immediate threat with just a shift in body language.

“I apologize,” Wells says quickly. “I meant no disrespect. Just to educate.”

Kath groans and hides her face in her hands. “He’s just like his father!”

 

Shumway is going to kill Bellamy Blake.

Besides that, this mission to bring Clarke Griffin home is rather lacking in details. He’d already made up his mind to remove Blake from his list of problems before Diana and then the Chancellor had come to him to privately suggest that they wouldn’t be too disappointed if Blake didn’t make it back to the Ark.

They don’t even know who Clarke has with her still. Harper McIntyre, as the one sending the message, likely is. She mentioned Octavia being alive too. Shumway knows three of those held captive by Mount Weather have died, but since last he heard they had only three captives, one of whom was Octavia, that’s not helpful. It’s unclear if James Harvey and Charlotte Szybunka were among the captives or the dead or neither. However, that line did indicate that Harvey’s rebels have joined forces with Clarke’s rebels.

Without any more information to go on, Shumway is going to have to assume those three deaths have been the only casualties and they’re going to be facing twenty criminals.

Assuming everything McIntyre said was the truth.

Shumway hopes Blake was one of the casualties.

He’s starting to hope Nathan Miller was as well.

“Commander, I understand your position,” Sergeant David Miller says, showing no sign of doing so, “but my son is out there and I see no reason for you to deny my request to join the rescue party.”

Shoana Harrower’s grandmother had stopped by to press a knitted scarf into Shumway’s hands and thank him tearfully for going to get her little girl back. Shumway is not giving a scarf to a delinquent who was responsible for an outbreak of rope based booby traps before finally being caught. She’d targeted guards, Shumway had found himself hanging upside down by his ankle on one humiliating occasion.

Maybe he should just tell David the truth. He’s not part of the rescue party, because there’s no rescue, this is an arrest.

“Dave,” Shumway says, he likes David Miller, that’s the worst of it, he’s reliable and dedicated. Pity he’s honest too. “Nate’s going to be okay. Sinclair’s just as frantic about Reyes, but he’s got a clear enough head to know his head isn’t clear enough. Doctor Griffin, she’s at the other extreme, thinks we mean some sort of harm to them. Reyes, Nate, Clarke, we’re going to protect them, even from themselves. 

“They’re children, in no position to negotiate a peace treaty with the same people who tortured them. I can’t say they won’t be in trouble when we bring them home, but we don’t need to float people for minor crimes any longer and we’ve never floated children.

“Remember how much trouble Nate caused? Kane was furious, but he always trusted you to make the final call on dealing with him.

“Most of these kids, they don’t have families and it wouldn’t be fair to treat them all differently because of that. What they’ve done has had real consequences for everyone. They’re not heroes or criminals, they’re naughty children. Doctor Griffin’s refusal to accept that this can’t be dealt with by the children’s families privately is why she’s imprisoned right now.

“I understand your concern, but the Chancellor is a father too. He won’t be cruel.

“The kids aren’t going to see us as there to rescue them. They’re just going to see that they’re in trouble. Has Nate ever tried to get out of punishment when he’s in trouble with you? Of course he has. Having his father be the one to bring him in is just going to add an unnecessary layer of humiliation. One none of the others will have to experience. It wouldn’t be fair.”

Shumway almost believes himself.

It’d be true if it wasn’t for Blake.

 

Something’s changed with Clarke by the time she climbs down the ladder with Miller and Murphy. Bellamy isn’t entirely against the idea of trying to teach Murphy to show respect, but he questions both the method and the fact it’s Clarke to order it. Murphy has turned down Raven, Miller and Clarke already, it’s Bellamy he’d come to by choice and stayed. For now.

Clarke’s claim on Bellamy shouldn’t give her an automatic claim on Murphy.

Bellamy’s jealous.

And Murphy needs reminding who exactly he belongs to.

Bellamy’s surprised by the strength of the feeling. It’s different from how he’d felt when Octavia had turned to Clarke for help or even now when he sees her snuggled into Jasper’s side, one arm thrown over him to have contact with Monty too. All three are sleeping, worn out by what it’s taken to bring them back together.

There’s a measure of relief in seeing her turn to someone he knows loves her and will go through hell to protect her and at the end of it will put down his weapon and pick her flowers. After so long it’s strange to trust anyone with her, but he trusts Jasper and Monty.

It’s just - Bellamy hadn’t chosen Octavia. She’s his because of a very literal accident of birth. And now she’s choosing Jasper and Monty and it hurts, but ...

Octavia never had a choice in being Bellamy’s either.

Despite what he says, Murphy had so many other choices.

“Murphy, come here,” Bellamy calls to him and Murphy looks round with a brief flash of fear that’s quickly replaced with relief?

He strolls over and takes a seat on the edge of the bed. “Just remember,” Murphy says, “Clarke will kill both of us if you overexert yourself.”

“I only donated some blood,” Bellamy points out.

“Did I say that was the source of the danger?” Murphy winces. “Uh, not meaning any disrespect.”

Bellamy rolls his eyes. “I can tell the difference between you being disrespectful and you being you,” he tells him.

“Oh, good,” Murphy says sarcastically, because he can’t express any positive opinion without the sarcasm. “Please tell me I don’t have to follow Clarke’s stupid rule.”

He should probably consider that actual disrespect, but Bellamy agrees that it’s a stupid rule. Still it reminds him of how Octavia would sometimes try to convince him to overrule something their mother had said. Even if he didn’t exactly agree, he’d tell Octavia he did, because anything else would get them both in trouble.

Bellamy just doesn’t have the power to overrule Clarke.

Even if he wants to.

“Sorry,” Bellamy says, slightly surprised he means it. “I’ll even enforce it if I have to. And if you think anyone is abusing it, tell me and I’ll ...” He hesitates, how far is he willing to go. “I’ll do what it takes to get them to stop.”

Murphy’s eyes narrow at him, he’d deliberately not mentioned getting Clarke involved. Bellamy’s saying he’s willing to disobey Clarke to protect Murphy. Neither of them are quite sure what to do with that information.

“Thanks,” Murphy says shortly. “Look. I’ve managed to get through - well, unless you count the fight with Jasper - nearly a full twenty four hours without anyone hitting me, it’s been a good day. So, unless you’re planning on changing that, I’m going to get some sleep before everything goes to hell very fast again.”

“Stay,” Bellamy orders, before he’s had time to think. It’s not like there’s a shortage of beds, but seeing Octavia curled up with Monty and Jasper is making Bellamy feel very alone in a room full of people. Besides he still hasn’t figured out how to remind Murphy who he chose to submit to and that it wasn’t Clarke floating Griffin.

Murphy freezes in confusion. “I’m not going far. There’s beds everywhere in here. Guess Raven and Clarke didn’t spend the whole time screwing.”

That’s almost enough to derail Bellamy completely. Raven and Clarke had screwed? That’s sure to cause problems. Problems that are future Bellamy’s problems.

Bellamy half wishes he could do the Hainofi thing Clarke does, just cut himself off from his feelings and act however the hell he wants. Part of the problem is that Murphy can’t refuse. Not that Bellamy would do anything if he did, he might be willing to force pain on him, but affection is a different matter.

Then again maybe the illusion of lack of choice is what Murphy needs to be able to accept it. Bellamy thinks of Murphy’s terror melting into tears as Miller petted his neck. Murphy is his. If what Bellamy wants to do with him is take care of him, Murphy can either take it or go find pain somewhere else.

Murphy had asked him because he thought Bellamy was a monster who just wanted to hurt him. Bellamy isn’t or if he is he very much wants to stop being that.

He pats the bed at his side, he doesn’t need to explain himself, Hainofi doesn’t. “I want you to sleep here.”

“Oh, you’ve finally decided to fuck me,” Murphy says flippantly, “I mean, you could have waited until we’re somewhere less public, but if that’s what you’re into ...”

“Murphy,” Bellamy warns. “Either come here and give me someone to hug in order to deal with Octavia separation anxiety or tell me to go float myself, don’t try to make me uncomfortable.”

Hesitantly, Murphy lies down next to him, holding himself as still and tense as possible and avoiding so much as brushing Bellamy’s arm through the blankets. Bellamy sighs, but now he’s got permission. “Shoes off,” he says. It helps that everyone else is either unconscious or not paying attention.

Murphy kicks off his shoes with far more force than necessary. Bellamy doesn’t give him another chance to put the blankets between them, pushing them out of the way until Murphy lies down again. “Seriously, though,” Murphy says, dealing with anxiety by talking, “I’d let you. Be a hell of a lot less embarrassing than this.”

Something in Bellamy’s chest hurts at the idea that Murphy truly believes that. “I’ll be sure to let everyone know you were forced,” he says, “can’t have them thinking you enjoy cuddles.”

Immediately, Murphy sits up. “Changed my mind, go float yourself.”

Bellamy rolls his eyes and pulls Murphy back down, it’s very similar to restraining him. “If you need me to actually tie you up before you can stop trying to run from comfort, I’ll do it. You need a hug and I need someone who needs a hug and we both need sleep, so just take the damn hug because I will fight you on this as long as it takes. I don’t have the energy right now to hurt you enough that you’re able to submit and believe me or don’t, but I don’t always just want to hurt you. Now, stay still while I grab the blanket or you’ll get to find out if a spanking is more humiliating.” He stole the threat from Hainofi Clarke earlier, but since Murphy wasn’t in the room he gets away with it.

Murphy’s fear turns to anger and that Bellamy knows how to deal with. He keeps pinning Murphy until he gets a nod, then pulls the blanket over them. Bellamy’s been aware ever since they met up with those who escaped and Murphy gave Mbege his blanket that Murphy can’t possibly be warm enough.

Now this blanket seems to be enough to make Murphy submit. Closer to hidden.

He presses closer when Bellamy puts his arms back around him. He’s trembling. Bellamy allows Murphy to twist onto his side, curling up, back to Bellamy’s chest, hiding from him too.

Bellamy had been right, Murphy needs this.

He looks around for Miller, wanting to thank him for letting him know and finds Miller is looking at him already. They share a small smile.

Bellamy knows neither of them have an explanation for how Murphy has burrowed his way into their hearts.

He just can’t see how much Murphy needs this without needing to give it.

Bellamy looks after what’s his.

 

There’s only four other Delinquents in the cell with Roma and Abby once the Grounders have left. It’s not amazingly inspiring for Abby’s hopes of revolution.

Roma doesn’t seem too worried that this is an indication of their wider support. “Clarke and Atom took nearly everyone who’d have stood up and fought,” she tells Abby. “Man, if we’d had John Murphy with us last night we could really have put on a show of resistance. We’d have a martyr too, the Grounders practically adopted him, no way he’d take this quietly, not that he’s ever taken anything quietly. They’ve put us here because the people are on our side, out of sight, out of mind or whatever. His many other flaws aside, he’d have gone far enough they couldn’t pretend he didn’t exist. Personally, I’m not volunteering to be shocklashed just to prove a point, but Murphy would be jumping up and down shouting ‘pick me’ by now.”

Abby doesn’t try to hide her amusement. From everything she’s heard of him, from Grounder, Delinquent and Guard alike, John Murphy is someone she’s glad is at Clarke’s side. If not someone she’d have been happy about Clarke befriending on the Ark. “John aside, who do we actually have?” Abby asks.

Roma introduces the other four to her.

Angela Dufour, 15, sent to the Skybox for destruction of property that had led to injury, her mothers had died on Mecha, apparently she’s a belligerent drunk. She hadn’t known that before. She’s nursing a hangover and incredibly embarrassed.

Warren Diggs, 17, sent to the Skybox for breaking the leg of someone who’d tried to steal from him, the thief had been floated. Diggs had been one of Finn and Wells’ scouts. He’d made a few friends among the Grounders, he hadn’t appreciated them being arrested for no actual reason. He’s got a black eye.

Tim Bartlett, 16, sent to the Skybox for possession of unauthorized medication, his father had had chronic pain after a work accident on Factory. At some point the night before he’d lost his shirt and his Grounder girlfriend had given him her coat. It’s a patchy fur thing that he’d insisted Abby touch to see how soft it was. It had been very soft.

Jill Yaworski, 17, sent to the Skybox for stealing food. She’d become a scout too, learning from the Grounders rather than trying to make it up from scratch. When the guard had arrived to break up the party, she’d stood between them and the Grounders, trying to form a chain of linked arms. Her arrest had made any chance of Delinquent organization fall apart.

Abby wants to adopt them all. They’re good kids, brave. They all look to her for a plan, none of them minding her leadership. She thinks maybe they should.

It’s her own war they’re trying to stop.

She can’t look at them as children, just tools, things she can use to save Clarke.

Niylah was their only chance to get a message out, they’re not allowed visitors. Sinclair had tried and Abby had watched as he was firmly turned away by the guard. If they’re going to delay anything they need to have an effect outside this cell.

Roma insists someone named Bree will find a way to visit anyway, but as the hours wear on with no sign of her, Roma stops repeating herself. Abby is quietly coaching Tim in case they can figure out a way faking a medical emergency would help when the guard changes.

The moment the previous guards are gone, one of the new pair spins round with a grin and Roma rushes to the bars. This must be Bree. Roma quickly explains the situation, gripping Bree’s hands through the bars, then they make an attempt to kiss.

Abby looks away politely, catching the eye of the other guard. She doesn’t know him and none of the others seem to either, but Bree couldn’t have got here without his help. Abby smiles at him.

“Sergeant David Miller,” he introduces himself with a nod and that explains it.

Nathan Miller is one of Clarke’s. David Miller is one of Shumway’s.

“I suppose you’ve heard of the group they’re sending after my daughter and her friends,” Abby says.

David nods. “I’m not part of it. I wanted to know why. Commander Shumway told me one version. I’d like to hear yours, sir.”

Abby hesitates, it’d be easier if Clarke wasn’t the one with special treatment. “The Chancellor believes Clarke is incapable, that there’s no chance of peace with the Mountain that won’t cost us the peace with the Grounders. I believe his current course of action will lead to war with both. His intention is to arrest Clarke’s people as ... I’m not sure what crime he’s claiming they’ve committed. He gave Shumway permission to use whatever force necessary, including lethal, just as long as Clarke stays alive.”

David Miller nods. “I believe you. I believe Chancellor Jaha would sacrifice my son. I do not believe Shumway will pass on that order.”

Abby considers how much she wants him working with her. Enough to trust him with some truth, if not about Shumway specifically. “Bellamy Blake. He’s with Clarke and your son too. Diana Sydney wants him dead. Accidents happen. What would your son do to protect his friends? Because I know my daughter would do anything.”

There’s a current of amusement through the Delinquents. “Clarke and Bellamy aren’t friends,” Diggs says with a huge grin.

“My daughter is not dating a murderer?!” Abby jumps to the obvious conclusion.

That gets even more laughs. “I mean Bellamy is more the casual hookup type,” Bree says in a tone that makes Abby think she knows that first hand.

“Stop teasing her,” Roma tells Bree. “Clarke and Bellamy hate each other.”

Abby is starting to see Wells might have left some important bits out. “But he stayed behind ...?”

“Yeah, ‘cause of Octavia,” Jill says. “She wouldn’t leave Jordan and Green behind and she had this huge argument with Bellamy and then ...”

“Clarke pulled rank,” Bree says.

“Pulled rank?” Abby asks, noticing the awkward glances. “She didn’t have a rank? Not in that way.”

“She had her damn Council,” Roma says bitterly. “Took anyone willing to kiss her ass and used what Wells had already achieved to put them in positions of power. Miller was the only one who managed to hold on from when Bellamy was in charge. Took Murphy’s Hunters and made them into Clarke’s Guard.”

“Collins was so incompetent at running the scouts,” Jill adds equally bitterly, “that Wells had to do literally everything that didn’t involve actual scouting.”

“What did McIntyre even do?” Tim asks.

“Wells and Miller were the only ones who should have been in on those meetings,” Diggs states flatly.

“Well, Reyes made sense,” Tim says, “but why not Jackson too?”

“And then Bellamy and Murphy came back and ...” Angela pipes up, then goes quiet at everyone’s looks.

“They weren’t Council,” Roma tells them. “Neither was Collins, not really.”

“He acted like he was, always trying to tell us how to do our job,” Jill grumbles.

Abby stares round at them all. Wells hadn’t given any impression that anyone was unhappy with Clarke. He also hadn’t mentioned a Council. “I’m sorry,” she says, “I still don’t see what you mean by Clarke pulling rank on Bellamy?”

Oddly Roma glances at David Miller before answering. “You have to understand Bellamy was popular. So was Wells. Only after Clarke showed back up it became a very bad idea to support Bellamy openly. There’s all this stuff Wells and Clarke said he did, only they never showed us any proof, right? Like there’s stuff we all saw like when he broke Murphy’s arm or shot Wells in the leg.”

Maybe Diana Sydney is right to want him dead. Abby doesn’t want him anywhere near her daughter.

“But Wells and Bellamy, they had us split fifty/fifty,” Roma says. “Me and Bree were with Bellamy. He was there first and wasn’t the floating Chancellor’s son. But after he hurt Murphy, there were enough people scared he’d do the same to them for no reason that they turned to Wells. They ignored the fact Murphy was about to kill Wells. There was a reason.”

Now Abby is seriously reconsidering how happy she is with any of Clarke’s chosen companions.

“Murphy set up his Hunters, threatened both Bellamy and Wells so they’d let him bully everyone as much as he wanted. He got people to fight with knives as entertainment.”

“I thought you said you wished he’d been here last night?” Abby splutters.

“Well, yeah, Clarke’s got him under control and he’s kinda bad at killing people. He’s just not very successful. No one he’s tried to kill is dead.”

“He seems to try a lot,” Abby says. She’d thought Murphy was something of a joke, but murderous intent doesn’t seem very funny.

“Uh, aside from one attempt on Bellamy that went - I don’t think any of us have the words to describe how poorly that ended, at least according to the official story, that’s the last time he tried.

“Bellamy kinda snapped over the knife fight thing. Wells had to physically stop him killing Murphy. Then he shot Wells in the leg and ran off into the woods. Murphy took his Hunters out after him. Next thing Clarke shows up with a Grounder army, then Jackson and Raven arrived and then Murphy just strolls back in with Bellamy on a rope, neither of them with any new injuries or anyone knowing what had happened, just that Bellamy had surrendered.

“Only thing that makes sense is that Murphy was working with Clarke and the Grounders. Raven says Bellamy took her radio, somehow killed two hundred people with it, and Clarke hands him over to the Grounders for it. No one saw him for weeks. Nothing happened to Murphy at all.

“If Bellamy found out Wells and Murphy had made a deal with Clarke and the Grounders and then they made him take the fall for mass murder ...”

It’s an interesting theory, even if Abby doesn’t believe it.

“Next time anyone sees Bellamy he confesses publicly to those murders. The Grounders could have done anything to get that confession. And then there was another story we were supposed to believe that he’d killed a Grounder. They put on this little circus of him asking for her name.

“And you know who the only other witness was? John Murphy. He didn’t even get punished for his part, which he said was trying to kill Bellamy, giving him the chance to escape and kill the Grounder. Instead Murphy was sent off to the Grounders, to train with them. Indra’s seken. Clarke said it was because of an infection in his broken arm.

“Finn claimed to have been part of it, but only because the Grounders accused Raven of burning some tents. Everyone saw the fire, but I bet it was Murphy or the Grounders themselves. It was weird, Finn and Raven split up after that, but they were both on Clarke’s Council too.

“Then Murphy comes back a week later, right after he made an alliance with the Grounders and starts literally wearing Clarke’s collar. There was this huge thing where Clarke sent everyone into a panic, because she and Indra thought Murphy had gone missing. We’d all been told Bellamy was dead, but he showed up right after that.

“Same day, Bellamy digs a grave for Dax. No one ever gave an explanation for that. I reckon Bellamy talked, told Dax everything and Clarke killed him to keep them both quiet.

“Next day, both Murphy and Bellamy are wearing collars. They get in a fight over something. Miller had to pull Bellamy off Murphy. Octavia showed up a few hours later, then Murphy with a Grounder kid, then Wells tells us we’re all going to the Ark, Clarke’s whole council, Murphy, Bellamy and Octavia vanish. One kid claimed she saw Jasper’s ghost, all pale and covered in blood.

“And then Wells was the one to lead us back. None of it makes any sense. No one really knows where Clarke and Finn went or what exploded or where she left Octavia, Monty and Jasper. I’m not even sure Mount Weather exists. Why would Harper’s message get to us if it was meant for Clarke and Mount Weather? What if the kid actually saw Jasper? How did Octavia come back? Why did Dax die? Why did they pretend Bellamy was dead? Is Atom involved or just onto them?”

Abby trusts Clarke. She trusts that her daughter isn’t part of some insane conspiracy that includes murdering people who get too close to the truth. She trusts that because Clarke had tried to help her father. Had tried to get the truth out about the oxygen on the Ark.

“Two hundred and twenty people did die, but it wasn’t because Bellamy Blake threw a radio in a river,” Abby says. “Me and Kane found a solution. The Exodus ships used to guide the entire Ark to the Ground, but we didn’t have enough time to make it happen. That’s why Kane’s cull - no, my cull too, that’s why our cull had to go ahead. Not to find another solution, but to have time to put into place the one we already had. I don’t know what convinced him the Earth was survivable, strangely I think it was that we thought Clarke was dead. I also didn’t know Blake had taken the blame.”

It seems there’s a lot Wells and Clarke haven’t told her. Abby remembers what Clarke’s wristband had shown before it had gone dead. Textbook drowning, but it went on far too long. There’s an old form of torture that might look like that. Waterboarding, Abby thinks it’s called.

Everyone has their limit, especially if the other four had been being tortured at the same time. The readings would indicate that. It wouldn’t have left any marks. They could have brought Bellamy out for a public confession with no indication he’d been tortured for it.

Perhaps Clarke had broken her wristband deliberately, the only way she could send a warning to Abby. How much longer had it taken her to break and agree to work for the Grounders?

Octavia, Jasper and Monty held back as insurance. Finn with her to report back on her behavior.

Clarke hadn’t broken though. She’d obeyed to protect her people, but the first chance she’d had, Clarke had run, taken her people, those who knew too much. She hadn’t told the Grounders more Arkers were coming.

Harper’s message.

A warning against the war.

The Grounders had used Mount Weather to scare the Delinquents into obedience to Clarke who they believed they controlled. A hundred children from the sky, an uncertain danger. Wells may not have even known, Clarke keeping the truth from him to stop him from trying to save her. Bellamy had been the only challenger to Clarke’s rule, so they’d discredited him, forced him to confess to murder. Murphy they’d used, but they can’t have trusted him as much as they did Clarke. Abby doubts his stay in the Grounder camp was as pleasant as Indra has made people think.

Finn and Raven must have known. If Finn told Raven that would explain why he’d been punished with Bellamy, though Murphy hadn’t.

Miller she isn’t sure about, though the fact he’d chosen to run with Clarke rather than come back to his father makes her think he found out somehow. Possibly without the Grounders knowing he had.

The real question is what do the Grounders want now?

The war against Mount Weather.

But if Mount Weather doesn’t exist then ...

The Arkers to send an army.

Leave Alpha Station undefended.

Turn on the Arker army during the march or walk them right into a trap.

Then turn around and finish the job with Alpha Station.

It doesn’t change Abby’s plan, just makes it more essential.

Bringing Clarke here would put her in danger from the Grounders again and Jaha’s army must be held back from leaving.

Now she just has to convince a cell full of known Grounder sympathizers that the Grounders are their real enemy.

 

They find the Outsiders’ clothes in one of Cage’s labs. Maya doesn’t know what exactly interested him about them, but when she gets to see Atom grinning in clothes he’d chosen for himself once, she’s grateful for it.

It’s not even a surprise when he picks up a black leather jacket with a patch of red spikes on one shoulder. It’d match.

Instead he folds it and puts it with the pile of stuff they’re taking as a peace offering.

Maya picks it up and holds it up against herself. “What do you think? Presidential enough?”

Atom doesn’t laugh.

“Oh, sorry,” Maya says quickly. “Did it belong to one of the ones who …?”

“Nah,” Atom tells her. “I was wearing it when we were captured, but it doesn’t belong to me. Stole it from - someone I wanted to pretend I still had control over. Someone I kinda wanted to be. Shit as he is. Acted like he didn’t give a fuck. Did whatever. Turns out neither of us are like that, not really. So he can have it back - if he went to Clarke. If he didn’t, float him. I just - don’t see how else Harper and Octavia could’ve known to come get us.”

Maya shakes her head, putting the jacket down. “They didn’t know. They were here for Cage and I told them about you.”

For a split second, Atom’s pain is visible, then he shoves it aside. “Course he didn’t. That would require him to give a fuck about someone else and not be a floating coward.”

“Sounds complicated,” Maya says, hesitantly.

“Nah,” Atom says again. “It’s real simple. Turns out he’s just as much of a dick as he pretends to be and the only reason I want to see him again is to knock a few teeth out.” He picks up a pair of goggles. “Reckon these belong to Jasper? They don’t seem Monty or Octavia’s style.”

Now there’s a topic Maya doesn’t want to talk about any more than Atom wants to talk about the owner of the jacket. “I don’t know,” she says. “Octavia had some pretty odd styles.”

“I remember Jasper with these on the Ark,” Atom confesses. “This shirt too, Earth Day twenty fifty two. Hell of a joke.”

“You knew him?” she asks, surprised. Despite everything she’d never really connected them as being from the same place.

“Not well.” He shrugs. “By reputation mainly.”

“Tell me,” Maya demands, her intensity startling him.

“Uh, well, Jasper was ... he made great moonshine. I guess he still does. Everyone liked him, made friends easy. Monty was his best friend, quieter, but any trouble Jasper got in, Monty would be right there next to him. They kept trying to separate them, but it was literally impossible to keep them apart. Jasper was a good guy, you know, only messed with teachers and guards who messed with us first, pulled some pretty great pranks. Stood up to bullies a few times, turned the joke on them. He, uh, mighta done that to me, actually. So, yeah, brave, friendly, funny, rebellious.” Atom smiles at Maya a little oddly. “Better than me.”

“Jasper killed three of my people, plus I don’t know how many Outsiders, when he blew a hole in this Mountain with my help,” Maya tells him. “You’ve already saved more than three of my people by offering your bone marrow. Still think he’s better?”

“I think you’d be better off thinking he is,” Atom replies. His grin really isn’t helping matters. “I’m a bad man.”

Maya rolls her eyes and kisses him.

 

Jasper wakes to the sound of quiet voices and two warm weights sandwiching him. It takes him a moment to realize the voices don’t belong to Monty and Octavia, both of who are still asleep. Or at least faking very well.

“I don’t know which is cuter,” Raven says, sounding more amused than charmed.

“I vote for the ones that killed _for_ each other over the ones who tried to kill each other,” Miller says.

Are they talking about Jasper, Monty and Octavia? Okay, Jasper can accept being called cute when he’s got these two draped over him, but cuter than ...?

He opens his eyes and blinks a few times.

Raven shoves Miller. “Look, you woke Jasper.”

Jasper grins at both of them, careful not to disturb Octavia or Monty.

It’s Raven that grins back and gestures towards the other side of Octavia. Miller tries to keep a straight face.

Struggling to see past Octavia without moving her, Jasper cranes his neck, only to have to bite down on his lip to keep from laughing. Raven was right, Murphy and Bellamy look adorable. It’s only the knowledge that either of them would kill him from thinking it that keeps him quiet.

Monty grumbles, Jasper’s shaking disturbing him, then Octavia is blinking sleep out of her eyes too.

“Sorry,” Jasper whispers, knowing he’s grinning. “It’s just ... Bellamy.”

Octavia frowns, then twists around. Monty grumbles again and attempts to burrow his face into the side of Jasper’s neck. Jasper reaches up a hand to stroke Monty’s hair as he struggles against the inevitable. Octavia does a far worse job of biting down her laughter and apparently Bellamy is capable of going from fast asleep to wide awake in seconds. It’s probably an Octavia triggered Pavlovian response.

Bellamy glares round at all of them, even Monty having joined in with the staring, but doesn’t do anything about the fact he’s using Murphy as a teddy bear. At least not until Murphy wakes rather more slowly, expression turning horrified, then struggles to escape. Then Bellamy holds him back, barely any change in movement.

“Calm down,” Bellamy orders. “Then I’ll let go, if you want.”

Murphy goes still instantly, eyes darting around in a search for an escape route.

Suddenly Jasper finds it a lot less funny. He taps Octavia’s shoulder. “Hey, if I’d known Bellamy was an option, I’m afraid you’d have lost out,” he jokes.

Octavia turns to him with a slightly confused frown, but seems to understand when she makes eye contact. “Then I’d just have gone allll the way to the other side of the dropship with Monty,” she tells him, before sticking her tongue out.

Jasper huffs and turns to Monty. “You’d never abandon me, right?”

Monty kisses his nose, startling a smile out of him. “As long as I get to be next to you, invite whoever you want into the cuddle pile,” Monty says, effectively defeating Jasper.

Murphy and Bellamy could be trying to kill each other again and Jasper wouldn’t notice or care.

Octavia makes a disgusted noise at them, breaking the moment before Jasper does something stupid like telling Monty he loves him. The three of them disentangle themselves and get up. Murphy has escaped and is scowling at anyone who tries to look in his direction, but he nods shortly at Jasper, thanking him for the distraction.

No one says anything about it, Murphy and Bellamy’s glares making even Octavia and Raven decide it’s something to bring up later and in private. Instead they all join Clarke and Finn’s discussion of Mount Weather.

Clarke glares round at them. “If you’re all done wasting time,” she snaps.

Murphy’s scowl deepens, then he shoves himself back to his feet and storms over to join the five members of Atom’s kru. Jasper looks at Bellamy who doesn’t make a move to go after Murphy.

Clarke doesn’t acknowledge it either. “Miller, tell me who to take,” she orders.

Miller looks taken aback, but answers quickly enough. “Monty, but not Octavia or Jasper. Monty’s familiar to them, but he’s not got as much of a, um, presence as the other two. He can keep his mouth shut.”

Jasper flips Miller off while Octavia pouts.

“I’d say Harper, but she’s still not back ...” Miller shrugs. “She probably stayed with Atom and the others and if that’s gone well she’ll be at the meeting anyway.” He doesn’t even bother to explain why not Bellamy or Murphy. “Myles would be a good choice too, unless you think we should only take kru. Leave me or Raven in charge here and take Finn and whichever you don’t leave. We haven’t got many options and with the ones we need to exclude ...”

Clarke nods sharply. “Raven’s coming with me, Miller’s in charge here. I’ll take Myles, if Atom’s there he can see we’re looking after his people too. Monty, Raven, Finn, get ready, we’re heading out as soon as possible.”

“Didn’t Harper say they should come here?” Jasper asks, as the three named stand.

“They’ll know we’ve taken down the cameras,” Clarke says. “Now we’re going to take those cameras and give them a new meeting spot.”

“We’re going to what?” Raven asks. “What you mean there is Raven is going to do that and Raven can’t do that, because Clarke didn’t tell Raven she needed the cameras in working order when she told Raven to turn them off.”

Clarke looks like she’s about to throw something at Raven. “Okay, then it’ll have to be here,” Clarke says. “I want something set up. Tent with open sides, table with seats either side, white flag. We don’t know when they’ll show up, so move quickly. There might be cameras Murphy and Raven missed. Miller, first sign of trouble you close the dropship door. Don’t wait for anyone. Finn, Raven, you’re off the guest list. I’ll just have Myles and Monty with me.”

“No way,” Jasper says. “You’re asking them to risk going back into Mount Weather? You can’t order them to do that. I’ll go in Monty’s place.”

“You blew them up,” Clarke points out coldly.

Bellamy puts a hand on Jasper’s shoulder and gives him a warning shake of the head when he looks round. Jasper’s not stupid, he knows arguing with Hainofi is a bad idea, but he’s also right and Monty isn’t going to argue for himself. “Then I’ll tell them I’m very sorry,” Jasper says to Clarke. “Especially that I had to leave so quickly and therefore never got the chance -”

“It’s okay, Jasper,” Monty interrupts. “I don’t mind going.”

“You’re not going back,” Jasper tells him. “Not for anything. Even if I have to tie you to something to stop you. Octavia, same goes for you, though Bellamy will help me there.”

Bellamy squeezes Jasper’s shoulder in another warning.

“Jasper,” Clarke says in a tone that feels like ice dropping into his stomach. “If you think I’m letting Monty or Myles or Octavia or anyone go to Mount Weather unwillingly, you’re wrong. The only thing you’re right about is that I can’t order anyone to take that risk with me. Any volunteers?”

It should feel like a victory, but instead Jasper feels like he’s waiting for a blow to fall. He doesn’t volunteer again, if staying back is what it takes to keep Monty from volunteering too he’s happy to be a coward.

“Disappointing,” Clarke says and Jasper winces.

“I’ll go,” Raven says.

“No.” Clarke doesn’t look away from Jasper. “You’re too valuable.”

Everyone who hadn’t been called valuable winces. Raven clenches her fists.

“Finn?” Clarke asks. “Miller?”

The rest of the group are holding back to keep someone else from volunteering too.

“You said you were leaving me in charge,” Miller says, unashamed. “Someone has to pull that lever if it’s needed.”

Finn doesn’t say anything, avoiding looking at anyone.

Clarke glances over at the six who aren’t part of the conversation. “And they’re the ones who fled into the woods nearly naked rather than stay ... plus Murphy. They’re too cowardly to even be worth asking. I guess I only need one seat on my side of the table.”

Float it, Murphy isn’t here to suicidally call Clarke out, Jasper’s gotta do it. “Clarke, you’re being a bitch about this. We’re all scared of Mount Weather, but right now we’re acting more scared of you. I’m not okay with that. Harper’s not here right now and she’s the one responsible for putting us in this position, so you’re taking it out on everyone. For all we know this is going to go great and – and Maya’s the one they’ve elected and no one will be in any danger. You’re forcing us to choose based on worst case scenario.”

Clarke stares at him, but she’s not glaring him down, so Jasper meets her eyes. He can actually feel Bellamy’s fingernails through his shirt now.

She takes a deep breath before speaking. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Be nice if you’d tell us that instead of acting like you know everything,” Jasper replies.

“You can stop pushing your luck,” Clarke tells him, not quite joking.

“Just tell us how we can help,” Jasper says and Bellamy’s grip loosens.

“I need people with me,” Clarke admits. “I can’t walk out there alone, but anyone who comes with me ...”

There’s silence, still no one willing to volunteer.

“Yeah,” Clarke says.

“Screw valuable,” Raven says abruptly. “Apparently, I’m too valuable to be useful. I’m with you.”

“O,” Bellamy says, “I need you to promise that if I volunteer, you won’t, because otherwise I can’t.”

“Octavia?” Monty asks hesitantly. “If you go because Bellamy does, then Jasper will go because you have and then I’ll have no choice but to join both of you.”

Unexpectedly, Finn stands and walks away, climbing up to the unoccupied second level of the dropship. A moment later, Murphy extracts himself from the other group and follows him.

Harper would have gone after him.

No one else does.

“I promise,” Octavia tells Bellamy. “I won’t volunteer.”

Bellamy smiles at her, then pulls her into a hug, looking at Clarke over her head. “Then I’m with you too.”

No one mentions that Bellamy had never been in the running in the first place.

 

Ordri comes to take Bandrona Wells kom Skaikru and Lincoln k- ... Wanripa to see Heda Lexa kom Kongeda. She doesn’t hesitate over Lincoln’s title when she announces them to Lexa.

To Wells’ surprise Lexa has decided to meet them almost alone, just two guards, and out of regalia. He’d have thought Lincoln at least would warrant more security. He waits for Lexa to speak first, copying Lincoln’s lead and standing.

After a long moment, Lexa says, “It’s traditional to kneel before the Commander.”

Wells glares sideways at Lincoln who doesn’t react. He’s supposed to be helping Wells avoid accidental insult, not make them himself deliberately. Wells goes to one knee, bowing his head. “I meant no disrespect, Heda.”

Lincoln remains standing.

Lexa leaves Wells where he is and turns her attention entirely to Lincoln.

“Wanripa,” Lexa says. “I put a kill order on you.”

Wells is about ready to fill that order himself. That’s exactly the sort of thing Lincoln should have mentioned.

“I hear I died twice,” Lincoln replies. The pair of them are frustratingly unreadable, Wells has no idea if this is going to end in bloodshed or hugs. Hopefully neither.

“I hear Wocha Indra kom Tondisi took you prisoner, but she didn't carry out my orders,” Lexa says.

Lincoln’s muscles contract, a slight enough response that if Wells hadn’t been looking for one he wouldn’t have noticed. He bets Lexa noticed too. Now he understands why Lexa wants him to watch, she’s establishing her power. It’s a waste of time, Wells only has one mistress.

Damn, he misses Clarke.

“Wormana Anya agreed the invaders were the priority. Your orders were to be carried out after that had been decided on, but I escaped,” Lincoln tells her.

They’re both using English, they want Wells to hear and understand. For whatever reason, Indra and Lincoln are protecting each other. Lexa knows this and is threatening Indra to keep Lincoln under control. And she can do that because she knows more than Wells.

Wells doesn’t have Lincoln under control.

Lexa knows that too.

She’s trying to make Wells think he can’t trust Lincoln.

Jokes on her, Wells never thought he could.

“The invaders?” Lexa asks. “Not Skaikru?”

Lincoln looks to Wells, it’s his question to answer. Wells doesn’t have an answer, he’s given it some thought, but still hasn’t decided on a name. He’s run out of time.

“There is no such thing as Skaikru, Heda,” Wells says. “When we were in the sky we called ourselves Arkers, but we are no longer on the Ark and we must choose a new name for our new lives. Trikru live in the trees, Sangedakru live in the desert, Podakru live on the lake. Skaikru no longer live in the sky.”

“You speak prettily, bandrona,” Lexa tells him. It doesn’t quite sound like praise. “Where will Skaikru live then? Are you now Trikru? Are the ones who fell in Azgeda lands now Azgeda? Yujleda? Trishana?”

“There were other survivors?” Wells asks, looking up at her in surprise.

“Yes,” Lexa says. “Trikru will escort your people to your Alpha Station. What other krus do with your people is their decision to make.”

She could order them to do the same, but she isn’t going to. Wells had predicted she wouldn’t give permission for them to settle on Trikru land, but she’d allow them to stay there until an alternative is presented. Thankfully, his main goal is to present that alternative to her. Even if Harper’s message is going to require some adaptations to his current version.

“Skaikru will live on Mount Weather,” Wells tells her, pleased with himself when he gets a tiny expression of surprise. “Not in, we will not become Maunon, but the slopes of the mountain itself. Before now and this peace our Hainofi is negotiating, that land was unusable. The Reapers for one reason, but as you can see, we have a cure. The destruction of the tek responsible for The Fog will be one of the conditions for peace. The Maunon will be unable to extend their influence beyond their hole again.”

“What about their missiles?” Lexa asks. It’s not a rejection.

Wells hadn’t known they had missiles, he can’t let Lexa think he wants them. “They have missiles? Those will be destroyed too, no question. Our magic will be used to contain the Maunon, a community of jailers living above them. Trikru lose nothing. Trikru stop losing their people to the Maunon.”

Lexa doesn’t know if she can trust him. Of course she doesn’t.

She doesn’t have an alternative that doesn’t involve wiping them out and the Maunon continuing to prey on her people. She’s lost land too, Jasper’s blow against the Mountain requiring an evacuation to avoid retaliation. If she can’t trust him, she can’t be certain she can stop them either. They’d fallen from the sky and torn into their greatest enemy with magic that had taken a bite out of a mountain. Kali’s fear of Skaitek is justified, even if her reasons are not.

Lexa can threaten Lincoln, she has no hold on Clarke.

Clarke must seem like some unstoppable force of nature who has brought destruction down from the sky that nonetheless has left the world rejuvenated where she has passed.

Wells has found their name.

“Stormkru requests entry into your Coalition, Heda. My father is our -” Wells hesitates, Haiplana would be correct, but that gives the impression of Clarke being Jaha’s student, it’ll have to be the other way around. “Our Haihefa. Haiplana Abby is better known to Wormana Anya, I believe. Hainofi Clarke is her daughter. Any of them will kneel and take the oath.” Probably.

Lexa raises half an eyebrow at him. “It seems, like Azgeda, Stomkru has sent their Hainofa to negotiate.”

“I’m no Prince,” Wells tells her, wincing at the memory of that first day on the Ground. Then again, Clarke had taken that insult of Princess and made it her power. “An accident of birth is all.”

“You even talk like the Azgeda Prince,” Lexa says dryly. “I can promise Stomkru the surface of Maun-de, but I will promise the Maunon nothing but death. Blood must have blood. They will suffer the Death by a Thousand Cuts if they surrender.”

Wells says nothing, it’s Clarke’s peace not his and he can’t jeopardize that offer of land for Maunon.

“They have children,” Lincoln says in his place.

Wells thinks he may have just sunk in Lexa’s estimation for not saying it, even though she must know exactly why.

“Every adult,” Lexa decrees. “The children will be fostered out evenly to the clans.”

“That isn’t possible,” Wells tells her. “They’ll burn up outside the shelter of the Mountain. If you kill every adult the children will be unable to maintain the tek keeping them alive.”

Oh, good, Lexa is human. She considers him, finally understanding why Clarke had attempted peace. Why Wells had suggested imprisonment.

“Stomkru can find a cure,” Lincoln promises, despite no such thing being certain. “For the children. As they did for me.”

Wells should have brought a radio and float the superstitious, how the hell did the Grounders manage without being able to send updates backwards and forwards quickly? He’ll need to send one of his people back with a message already. They can bring a radio back. Oh, except, it still won’t work unless Clarke gets the Maunon to take down the blocking signal. Which will be a priority - he’ll ask for one, even if it doesn’t work immediately.

“Very well,” Lexa decrees. “The adults of Maunon will live until Stomkru have found a cure. That cure will be offered to the children only.”

He’s not sure what the Grounder definition of child is, he’s met Kath’s Artigas, he’s considered a full adult. Does Indra’s seken Losi count? What’s adulthood based on?

“The Maunon are like Stomkru in one way,” Wells tells her carefully, “we aren’t considered adults until we turn eighteen.”

Lexa frowns slightly. “We consider the transition to adult to come with the first kill,” she replies.

Wells shakes his head. “There are elderly Maunon, with grandchildren, who will never have killed with their own hands, but have spent decades taking your people’s blood and lives to survive. There are children, too young to hold a weapon even in play, who have been given the blood without knowing or understanding. The only measure that can apply is their own.

“You say you want to foster them, ask Indra about Kikabug, she will tell you he is more of a child than Losi, despite being five years older.” Of course that might not apply to people who aren’t John Murphy ... “Maunon are able to be children for longer, because they are not in danger from the Maunon.”

“Those under eighteen, then,” Lexa accepts. “They will live, fostered to the clans. Those over must be executed.”

Clarke’s not going to like it, but it’s much better than Wells had hoped for and Abby and Jaha are pragmatic enough to agree.

“Thank you, Heda,” he says.

 

“Sucks to realize you’re a coward, huh?” Murphy asks Finn, attempting for sympathetic.

Finn punches him.

Murphy staggers back a few steps, bring one hand up to check his chin and the other held between them in surrender. “I’ll take that as punishment for disrespect, okay? What I meant was I know how you’re feeling. I spent nearly an entire day hiding under the floor, then pretending not to know where to go next after I realized. You’re not gonna get that chance to be alone, so you need to come to terms with it quickly, that or make the decision to change. Otherwise you’re gonna pick a fight with me, since I’m the most likely to give it to you, and then we both get punished for it and it helps a bit with your guilt, except then you’ve got more guilt about getting me into trouble and you don’t feel it was for the right thing and it just ...” He waves his hands to indicate something messy and big. “And I know that ‘cause we’ve both been there before. Together, even.”

Finn slumps into the nearest seat. “So my other options are embracing cowardice or volunteering? Float off, Murphy, you’re not who I wanted to follow me. I didn’t ask you to stick your nose in. Take it out before I break it.”

Murphy just grins at that, he’s got this damn buzzing under his skin again, that’s always a sign he’s about to land himself in trouble because he doesn’t know how to stop. Theoretically, turning and walking away, letting Clarke or Raven deal with it, is a thing he could do and knows wouldn’t end badly for him. He just can’t.

The buzzing won’t let him.

“Now, me, I’ve embraced cowardice. I recommend it. But sure, I’ll leave you to be the bait in your latest trap, since it wasn’t me you wanted to catch. You might be here a while, though, Raven and Clarke are too busy trying not to tell you they fucked.”

The look of devastation on Finn’s face is perfect. Hell, Murphy doesn’t even feel guilty for dragging him down with him, Finn’s trying to do the exact same thing, he’s just worse at it. Maybe this time it’ll be enough. If anyone can make the buzzing stop it’s Bellamy.

Only Finn doesn’t hit him again, instead he crumples into tears.

Murphy should have just taken him up on the first offer of a fight, only he hadn’t actually been aiming for one at that point. He’d wanted to earn it, not just have it handed to him. So much for the ‘no guilt because Finn wants this too’ theory.

It’s not like Murphy’s never made anyone cry before. Not like he hadn’t turned around and looked to pick a fight with anyone who had a problem with it to punish himself for it. He’s just never wanted to help them stop. He has no idea how.

“I’m sorry?” he asks Finn. Is he? Doesn’t feel like how he usually feels sorry, too little physical pain. “Should I get ...?” Who even is there to get? Harper’s missing, Raven and Clarke are the reason Finn’s crying, Bellamy - Murphy wants to fetch Bellamy, but Finn won’t want Bellamy. “Should I get Miller? Or Jasper?” They’re both good at the comfort thing.

Finn shakes his head, he wants Murphy to leave.

The buzzing still won’t let him.

Instead Murphy drops to his knees, it’s not what Finn wants, it’s not even what Finn needs, but Murphy doesn’t know how to help. He stays there, head bowed, silent, accepting the pain listening causes, even if he doesn’t understand it.

Finn calms on his own, stares down at Murphy. “What are you doing?”

Murphy shrugs. “I wanted you to stop, because it made me feel bad, but I didn’t know what to do.”

“So you decided kneeling might help?” Finn asks, sounding even more confused somehow. “I’m not like - I don’t want to control the world.”

“I know you’re not Clarke or Raven or Bellamy,” Murphy tells him, rolling his eyes. “I couldn’t think of anything that might help you. I was useless, deserved it.”

Finn looks like he’s completely lost any shred of understanding he might have had. “You knelt on a metal floor for however long it’s been, to punish yourself for making me cry?”

Murphy nods, thankful he’s finally managed to communicate that. “Hurt to listen, too.”

Finn’s confusion doesn’t seem to lessen, though. “Why?”

It’s Murphy’s turn to find himself utterly confused. “I don’t know,” he says. “Usually crying just annoys me or it’s kinda funny.”

“I didn’t mean why did it hurt to - you don’t always find crying hard to listen to? Never mind. Why didn’t you just stop listening? Walk away if you couldn’t help? I’d have preferred that to whatever this is supposed to be.”

Murphy looks at Finn seriously, he hadn’t realized Finn was quite that far in denial, quite that willing to avoid consequences. No wonder he’d never confessed to planning Lincoln’s escape, asked Bellamy to cut him free too, put on a performance while Clarke was beating him to make her go easy on him. Finn’s a different sort of coward from Murphy or even Bellamy.

Murphy had hid, Bellamy would have hidden someone else and Finn - Finn would have frozen, stuck between his fear and his loyalty. Murphy fears more for himself, Bellamy fears more for others and Finn hasn’t decided yet. It’s not a matter of choosing between being a coward and being a hero, though that’s the end result.

There’s a right choice too.

The one Murphy hasn’t made. The one Finn makes when he forgets about his fear. Murphy knows himself, he hasn’t got a chance at becoming a hero, not when he knows just how little the people he’d be saving deserve it. Finn can see the good. He’s still got a chance at becoming someone who does deserve saving. Someone Murphy could sacrifice himself for without guilt.

Murphy thinks he’d like that. Thinks he might have found a couple of others too. Jasper. Miller. Monty. Harper. Even Raven.

Not Clarke or Bellamy.

They’ve gone too far the other way. Heroes that think the cowards don’t deserve saving.

Sure, Murphy agrees with them, he just doesn’t think they have the right to choose. Not if they want to keep pretending they deserve saving. That they’re the good guys.

Jasper is tearing himself apart over mercy kills and the deaths it took to set so many more free. Monty over a single kill that was both just and saved more than it took. Harper should be back by now, unless she stayed to help or needed to be alone to process. She hadn’t even been the one to kill Cage. Miller hadn’t shown him undeserved mercy, just undeserved kindness. Raven had hurt him, trying to help, she’d recognized her mistake, taken punishment for it, forgiven what he’d done in revenge and told him she’s willing to wait for him to forgive her too.

They’re good people and their belief in Murphy might be misplaced and he’ll let them down eventually, but if he could, like, die protecting them before then, that’d be nice. Almost like being a hero.

If he ever gets the chance, Murphy knows he’ll freeze. Just like Finn. Find himself hiding under the floor while people he cares about fight and lose outside.

Murphy’s never going to be a hero.

Finn’s got a chance.

“You should volunteer,” Murphy tells him, knowing it doesn’t answer the question Finn asked in the slightest. “’Cause you want to. ‘Cause even though Raven and Clarke hurt you, you’d still stand up and take a whipping for them. Even if you regret that decision instantly. You’re too cautious, bet no one’s said that before, _Spacewalker_. You either don’t think at all or you overthink. Depends how urgent it is. Give you time to think and you back out, don’t give you time to think and you come up with insane plans that leave everyone worse off. Go on, do the reckless thing this time. Go down there, tell Clarke and Raven that if they plan on hooking up again you get to watch and that you’re going to be part of the peace talks.”

Finn splutters at him, though it’s unclear which part he’s failing to respond to. “I’m not suicidal,” he manages eventually, which again could apply to any of it.

“That doesn’t sound like the man who offered me the chance to cut Bellamy’s throat in exchange for me committing arson so you could rescue your Grounder boyfriend,” Murphy points out.

“The arson and throat cutting were entirely your ideas.”

“Ah, but you knew it was me you were recruiting.”

“Again, I remember trying to recruit Wells and you bothering me until ...”

“Until you said ‘sure, Murphy, that sounds just dandy’ and went through with it.”

“I don’t sound like that and no one says dandy,” Finn says, because he can’t dispute the rest of it.

“My point stands, you’ve agreed when I’ve suggested dumb shit in the past and now I’m asking you to do it again. For love or whatever bullshit.”

“Maybe I learned my lesson.”

“You haven’t learned shit. Except Clarke knows best and that’s a terrible lesson. If you really believed that, you wouldn’t be hesitating at all, because you’d believe she can do anything.”

“Clarke knows better than me.”

“Better isn’t best. That’s the problem with Hainofi, she believes she can do anything and Clarke needs that or she’d be just as stuck as you are now, unable to act. There’s always a cost, just have to decide if you’re willing to pay. Being a hero, Spacewalker, Skaistrecha, cost of that is risking yourself. Being a coward, like me, cost of that is shame, guilt, other people’s disgust. Choose.”

“You give shit pep talks,” Finn tells Murphy as he stands. “But I’m doing it, so maybe not bullshit.”

Murphy grins and attempts to stand too. “Ow, fuck!” He starts massaging the cramps out of his legs to Finn’s amusement.

Finn walks away.

“Some floating hero,” Murphy calls after him. “Leaving an innocent in distress!”

“You made me cry,” Finn points out, still amused.

Murphy grins to himself, he doesn’t know why, but there’s hardly any buzzing left.

 

Bellamy intercepts Finn at the bottom of the ladder so he can find out what Murphy did before Clarke. He’d considered following, but collar or currently no collar, Finn would have every right to order him to stay out of it. There’s very little he can do to Murphy for interfering if he’s in trouble for the same thing.

So he’d waited, knowing the longer it takes the worse Murphy is making it on himself. Knowing that he has to be the one to deal with it.

That he wants to be.

That Murphy wants him to be.

Bellamy’s good with responsibility. He can’t remember a time he wasn’t responsible for Octavia. But Octavia doesn’t cause trouble, she just finds it. She puts herself in danger. Murphy’s greatest danger is himself.

Finn looks at Bellamy strangely. He doesn’t seem angry, so that’s something, though his eyes are red from crying, which in a way is worse.

“Have you ever thought that maybe ...” Finn asks slowly, “... Murphy is, like, secretly really good at talking people into stuff? Like ... really stupid stuff, that they don’t want to do and makes things worse for them.”

“Yes,” Bellamy replies without hesitation. Having someone else put forward his pet theory is close enough to confirmation for him. “He is, it’s just that ninety five per cent of the time the thing he’s trying to talk people into is hating him.”

“That makes a worrying amount of sense,” Finn informs him. “He just gave me a pep talk that made me cry and punch him in the face, not in that order, and it still worked?”

“What worked?” Miller asks, apparently having had a similar idea to Bellamy on cutting off the drama before it gets to Clarke. Probably in his case because Clarke’s got more than enough on her plate.

“Murphy’s pep talk,” Bellamy tells Miller, not particularly willing to cooperate.

“Yeah, he’s convincing,” Miller says, surprising Bellamy.

“How’d you figure that out?” Bellamy asks, it’s taken him this long to get to the point of accepting he’s not imagining things and Miller’s acting like it’s an established fact. Thankfully, Finn seems just as surprised.

Rather than answering directly, Miller asks Finn, “What’d he talk you into?”

“Uh, joining Clarke’s meeting with whoever Mount Weather sends,” Finn says.

Miller nods. “Bellamy, he talked you into surrendering without a fight. Got close to talking Atom into giving us the supplies. Talked Mbege into forgiving him, despite everything he’s done since he hit the Ground. I was there when he made the alliance with the Grounders, if it hadn’t been for stuff we didn’t know, that would have worked to get us all killed except him. Talked his way back into our group after betraying us. Finn, did you suggest he got to kill Bellamy in exchange for his help or did he? Talked Jason and Jacob into setting off the fireworks too. Talked Jasper down, kinda, I bet he’d have done it if you’d let him. Ever wonder who sent Monty?”

“Uh, I did that one, actually,” Finn tells them. “Like, I was right there with him. Murphy went straight to Raven, guess he thought she’d be most likely to give him a knife.”

“She did help him,” Bellamy says. “If we could just, you know, control how he uses it.”

“That’s your job.” Miller grins and claps Bellamy on the shoulder. “Could have been mine, but he’s made his choice and I feel sorry for you, but not enough to contest that. Screw it up and he won’t be your only problem, I’ll be after you too for making him my responsibility when he’s on another revenge spree.”

“Don’t bother,” Bellamy half jokes, “he’ll kill me before he causes too much trouble.”

“Uh, Bellamy,” Finn says, “you do remember quite how bad at killing you he was last time?”

“Oh, hell,” Bellamy says, half seriously. “Miller, you’ll have to put me down for him. Make it as quick and painless as possible, please?”

Behind him Octavia clatters into the dropship. “They’re here!” she announces, then flops down onto one of the beds, checking to make sure Bellamy sees she’s not going outside.

Bellamy smiles at her, then glances up the ladder, Murphy still hasn’t emerged and he’s promised Clarke he’ll join her outside.

“I’ll talk to him,” Miller says. “Nothing else.”

“He’s not in trouble,” Bellamy tells him, surprising himself. “He’s not been in trouble with me yet, I’m not sure how.”

Miller looks contemplative. “That won’t last, moment there’s a bit of peace around here he’ll find something you can’t let go. My advice is choose that thing for him, give him a direct order, one he can break without putting anyone in danger, it’ll save you trouble later.”

“Like Clarke did with ... um,” Finn cuts himself off, looking between Miller and Bellamy awkwardly.

Bellamy raises an eyebrow at him, triggering Finn’s ‘if caught confess everything’ instinct. “We knew you and Murphy would get in a fight over something, so we, well, Clarke, mostly, let it happen?”

Miller snorts. “I was there watching, so when I had to drag you off Murphy no one had to go fetch me, sent Wells away so he wouldn’t get involved,” he explains. “Wasn’t Clarke’s fault though, even if she knew how it’d go right at the start. Even that you’d insist she treated you the same. Never had any intention of letting you go unpunished.”

Bellamy doesn’t quite know how he feels about that. The idea that he’s predictable enough Clarke could have manipulated him that easily, just by putting Murphy in his vicinity. That she believes in his sense of fairness and willingness to stand up for his beliefs, even against her. That Miller had been in on it.

That Clarke had known he’d see Murphy vulnerable and ...

Not change his mind, exactly, just re-evaluate what he thinks and wants.

Give Murphy a chance.

Not even a second chance, Murphy hadn’t been the one to break their agreement.

This is Bellamy’s second chance.

“Okay,” Bellamy says. “Me and Finn should go outside. Support Clarke’s peace treaty.”

Miller and Finn look a little bothered by the lack of response, presumably because Bellamy has been known to overreact on occasion.

“Clarke’s won,” he tells them. “I’m hers. Not sure it matters exactly how that happened. I’m better off for it. I forgive her.”

He doesn’t intend to forget, however.

 

Clarke breaths a sigh of relief when she sees Finn and Bellamy emerge from the dropship. Raven’s just been scowling in silence at Atom who some idiot has given a gun. She still wouldn’t rate his chances against Raven if it came to a fight.

No, nothing is _coming_ to anything.

Especially not where Raven is involved.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Maya,” Clarke says as Finn and Bellamy arrange themselves behind her. If there’s one thing to be said for being the leader it’s that she gets to sit in a chair while the others stand around. It’s an odd rule. Now she’s noticed it, it bothers her.

“Boys, before you get too comfortable, could you get a few more chairs?” Clarke asks them. “This could take a while.”

Maya only has three people with her as well.

Atom, in the same outfit she last saw him in, minus Murphy’s jacket, plus the gun. Same smug expression though. At least Murphy isn’t here to make a mess of things again. Maybe she should send Bellamy away. No, he hadn’t caused trouble last time.

A guard, he must have been one of the ones Cage gave the treatment, only for him to decide his loyalty was with the people instead. His nametag reads Lee.

A ... person in a radiation suit. Clarke thinks female based on the length of hair and height, though it’s tricky to tell. She has no idea why Maya brought them. Her(?) nametag reads Eliot.

“Is everyone ...?” Maya asks, looking towards the dropship.

Clarke still isn’t sure this isn’t a trap, so she doesn’t send for them. “Five of Atom’s, Jasper, Monty and Octavia. They’re exhausted, but they’ll recover. A few of mine donated blood.”

Bellamy shifts to draw attention to the probably unnecessary bandage Clarke had put around his arm. Atom looks unimpressed, after all he’s been donating bone marrow.

Clarke isn’t sure why they’re making it a competition. Raven has a bandage too and she’s not flexing to show it off.

She does have nice arms though.

“Five of mine?” Atom asks. “Murphy a no show then? Pity, I wanted to give his jacket back.”

“Oh, Murphy’s in there,” Clarke says, offhand. “He’s just one of mine.”

Atom nods. “And how’d you figure that one out? He threw your collar back in your face.”

Maya raises both eyebrows at the pair of them, Atom can’t have warned her about Murphy. Clarke swears every single floating time she tries to negotiate anyone for anything, there Murphy is, making her life more difficult.

“Atom,” Clarke says, knowing just how exhausted she sounds. “If you can make him leave, he’s all yours, though I haven’t the faintest idea what you want him for ... wait, no, I do know. Weird sex.”

“Clarke, that’s not fair,” Bellamy says as though he’s the poster child for Respecting and Tolerating John Murphy ... why is this even about Murphy? He’s not relevant.

Is this how Bellamy had felt before he snapped and tried to cut Murphy’s throat? Because suddenly Clarke can sympathize.

“If you two want to – to pose and argue over Murphy, do it in your own time,” Clarke orders Atom and Bellamy. “Me and Maya would like to talk about an end to this war and how to stop more people dying.”

Atom and Bellamy subside with matching pouts.

Maya looks oddly hurt, but shares an eye roll with Clarke over the pair. Boys.

Really giving them up entirely is looking like an excellent option. After Finn, Raven probably feels the same ...

Peace.

“Maya, if taking John Murphy out of my hair is a condition you’re willing to include ...” she mostly jokes.

Bellamy looks offended and Atom looks smug.

“I’ll throw Bellamy in too,” Clarke offers. Raven laughs.

Atom stops looking smug. Bellamy looks more offended.

“I don’t think ...” Maya says, clearly unsure if Clarke’s actually joking.

“It’s a joke,” Clarke reassures her. “I wouldn’t force either of them on anyone. Unless they volunteered, like Atom. I haven’t had a chance to see how many of my people would be willing, but with the people arrived on the Ark, I’m sure I can muster enough support to cure all your people.”

“Thank you,” Maya says, but she doesn’t sound relieved, more wary. She wants to know what Clarke wants in return.

This isn’t so much a negotiation as a dictation, Clarke realises. She has something Maya needs and she’s made it impossible for Maya to take it.

She’s in the same position Atom had been when Clarke had come to him for the supplies. He’d turned her down out of spite, Clarke is going to have to ask something from Maya for the kindness.

“Cage Wallace is dead, his experiments die with him. We have a cure for the Reapers too, everything you have on how they were created will be destroyed.”

Now Maya looks relieved, Clarke’s asking for things she wants too and now she has a reason to carry them out without her people fighting her.

“The Fog, however that’s made, my Tekamin, um, Raven, she’s a mechanic and Jasper, you know he’s a chemist, they’ll find a way to neutralise it and carry that out. It won’t be possible to make again.”

“We have missiles,” Maya offers and the guard starts forward only for her to hold up a hand to him. “I assume they will fall under the same policy.”

Clarke smiles. Maya’s on the same page as her, she wants to take away Mount Weather’s unfair advantage enough to completely submit to Clarke.

Hainofi could take anything. If Maya had anything she wanted.

“The Harvest will become unnecessary,” Clarke says. “The bunker will be opened ...”

Wait, there’s one thing Clarke wants, needs for her people. Not the bunker, they’ve lived on the Ark too long to want a place without the sky.

“Your people and my people will live together, as one, on the slopes of Mount Weather,” Hainofi decrees and holds out her hand.

Maya takes it. There’s no real question about who those people would belong to.

Hainofi meets Atom’s eyes and smiles at the horror she finds there.

He’ll bow in time.

Bend or he’ll break.

 

After the meeting, Finn walks away.

He doesn’t go back into the dropship. Bellamy is the only one who notices. That hurts.

Raven had been watching Clarke the whole time. Clarke hadn’t acknowledged his existence. That he’d changed his mind. She’d taken his presence as the service she was due. Raven had been too busy serving to care.

He misses Harper, the easy way they fit together as they worked, neither saying a word. He misses Lincoln, the versions of the world they built in their heads, spilling together into something far more beautiful. He misses Wells, the way they could read each other, know, not the specifics, but at least how the other felt about the truths he couldn’t tell.

Here the person who understands him best is Murphy.

Clarke and Raven ... they don’t even know him. He’s known Raven his whole life and she’s a complete stranger. He knows her favourite colour, when she first lost a baby tooth and that she’ll never ever admit she snores. He knows he hurt her, badly, and he’s been paying for that ever since. Would pay for it as long as it took to get her back.

Only, she isn’t coming back.

The thought occurs that maybe it isn’t supposed to be about paying, but he pushes it aside.

Finn deserves this. Eye for an eye. He sleeps with Clarke and doesn’t tell her, Raven sleeps with Clarke and doesn’t tell him. It’s hypocritical to be upset about it. It’s none of his business.

He’s not dating either of them. Raven had been very clear on that point.

Why should they tell him?

They’re not telling anyone else either. Murphy definitely isn’t the person they’d confide in. He’s the bastard who acts like he can read your mind and pick out the thing you least want him to know.

With his stupid chess trick.

He’s not angry at Murphy though, at least he was honest enough to tell him. Didn’t let him swan along ignorant that his ... his ...

Finn has no claim on them.

But they have a claim on him.

It’s strong. He’s knelt to both and meant it.

He’s been _owned_.

Like a pet they loved when it was cute and tiny, but now it’s grown up and got a habit of lying through its teeth to get what it wants.

Murphy’s right. He wants to be the hero, he needs to do the things the hero would do or he needs to accept that he can’t. He can be honest, swear never to knowingly lie, but he can’t tell the whole truth. The cost is too high.

And the cost of not telling the whole truth is Clarke and Raven. Only right now, they’ve made it clear how much they value him.

They’re not worth it.

He pulls open the door to his bunker. He’d never brought either of them here, it’s empty of their ghosts.

Someone’s here, there’s lit candles.

Finn climbs down warily.

“Harper?” he asks.

She’s been crying recently.

Then again so has he.

“Finn?” she says. “Are we the good guys?”

He tells her enough of the truth.

 

“I’m sorry,” Mike says. “I’m talking too much aren’t I?”

Aden doesn’t say anything.

“Like if you want me to shut up and go away, you can just tell me,” Mike adds, “Wells practically threw me out earlier.”

“I like listening to you,” Aden says quietly. “You’re passionate. But I come here to be alone.”

“Oh,” Mike says, running the brush over the horse’s side like Aden showed him. “But it’s so crowded.”

“Horses are easier than people,” Aden tells him with a shrug.

Mike understands what he means, but he wants to stay.

“When I’m Commander I won’t be able to hide here any more,” Aden says. “That’s what Seda Titus says. He’d know.”

Mike frowns. “Aden, do you want to be Commander?”

Aden laughs at him.

“I’m serious! Do you?”

“I’m Natblida,” Aden says as though that ends the debate.

“Okay, but if you weren’t?”

“It doesn’t matter if I weren’t. I am. Either I’m the next Commander or I die in the Conclave or I run and get killed for it!” Aden’s raised voice startles one of the horses and he quickly works on calming her.

Mike goes quiet again. He’s messing this up.

“Just because you can be whatever you want,” Aden says bitterly, “doesn’t mean everyone can.”

It’s Mike’s turn to laugh.

“Whatever I want?” he asks. “I didn’t choose any of this. Let me tell you a secret, my name isn’t Mike. It’s Gabe. Mike was my twin brother and he died and if he’d lived and I’d died it would’ve been fine. On the Ark, you were only allowed one child, so twins - they had to pick one to die when we were old enough and they picked me. Only I didn’t die like I was supposed to, Mike did, so they put me in a cell again, until Wells came along and offered me the chance to get out of there if I came with him to Polis.

“I needed to get out, not just of the cell, but of everywhere I knew. I tried to escape Mike’s ghost only to find I’d become it instead. I don’t even get to choose whose name I use!”

Aden understands, Mike can tell, but it makes him angrier. “You can tell them! Tell them you’re Gabe! No one cares how many children your parents had here.”

“I’m not Gabe,” he hisses. “I’m not really Mike and I don’t remember what made Gabe different. What makes you different from all the other Natblidas, Aden? All the other Commanders? How are they going to remember you?”

“I’m the best fighter -” Aden starts.

“So were all the other Commanders. They won their Conclaves. If all you are is the Next Commander, why do you even bother calling yourself Aden?” For a moment he thinks Aden is going to hit him, but then he unclenches his fists.

“I don’t like fighting, but I’m good at it,” Aden tells him. “I like horses. I’m much too tall already and I’m not done growing. I’m terrible at archery. I get in trouble for drawing in lessons, but I swear it helps me focus. I - I don’t want to be the next Commander, but I don’t want to be dead more. I’d like to see the place I was born one day, I came to Polis too young to remember.”

He grins at Aden and says, “That’s Aden. Doesn’t matter what job they give you, they can’t change that. You’d still have that stuff if you’d been born on the Ark and I’d been born Natblida. Probably, there’s a lot of debate about nature versus nurture and the ways our environment ...”

“Shut up,” Aden says. “I get it, but the same applies to you. Doesn’t matter if they call you Mike or Gabe, right?”

“I just don’t know which I want to be called,” he admits. “I’m not either.”

“Then pick something new,” Aden says pragmatically. “No one’s going to tell you any different when you introduce yourself.”

On the Ark they’d had scanners, no process to legally change what those scanners said.

But on the Ground ...

“Huh,” he says. “I’ll think about it.”

 

“Where the hell is Finn?” Raven asks, shoving Murphy back until he hits the dropship wall.

“I don’t know!” Murphy says, holding up his hands, trying to ignore the gathering audience. “Why would I know?!”

“You kinda went off with him alone and then he was acting weird and then he ran off after the meeting,” Connor points out.

Much appreciated. Bastard.

Raven shoves him again.

“I didn’t tell him to run off!” Murphy tells them. “Just to stop being a coward. Clearly he decided -”

Raven puts her hand to his throat.

Murphy goes very still.

He’s not sure it’s a relief when it’s Atom, Maya and Bellamy to push themselves to the front and take charge. Least it’s not Clarke. Pity it’s not Miller.

No one tells Raven to let him go though, which is rather rude.

“What’d he do?” Atom and Bellamy ask at the same time, then glare at each other. Oh, okay, maybe Clarke would be better.

Raven looks at him in a way that makes it clear that’s his question to answer.

Well, float her then.

“I told Finn that Clarke and Raven fucked and he ran off to cry some more about it,” Murphy tells the whole group with a smug grin.

“Raven?” Maya says. “I think you should let him go. Talk about this somewhere less public?”

Murphy decides he likes Maya, even if she has terrible taste in boyfriends. Not like he can’t see the appeal with Atom. Or Jasper for that matter.

“I think you should stay out of this, darling,” Murphy advises her, “lot of shit you don’t know.”

Maya’s eyebrows make a heroic dash for her hairline. “Well, _darling_ ,” she says and Murphy abruptly regrets everything. “I think I’m the closest thing to a neutral judge you’re going to get, _darling_. So, unless you want me to leave you to be torn apart by these three as they fight over who gets to keep the scraps, _darling_ , it’s in your best interests to co-operate.”

Murphy thinks he might be in love. Damn, she reminds him of Clarke.

Judging by Bellamy and Raven’s shell shocked expressions, they’re going through something similar. Atom and Jasper are just grinning proudly.

Maya waves her hand and those who aren’t hers or directly challenging hers (or Murphy) disperse. He’s almost sorry he missed her clashing with Hainofi, though she seems not to have put up much of a fight.

“Yes, uh -” Murphy hesitates, he’s got no idea what her proper title would be or even if he can use it without ridicule.

“ _President_ ,” Atom supplies for him.

Maya slaps lightly at Atom’s arm. “I’m not President. I’m just filling that role until I figure out a more appropriate title for it.”

Murphy smirks, ignoring Bellamy’s warning glare. “Yes, heda. I’ve been told I need to work on my habit of disrespect.”

She looks a little confused until Jasper whispers a translation in her ear, then Maya looks suspicious, trying to figure out the insult. Murphy didn’t direct it at her, just everyone else.

He’ll give this near stranger deference he’s refused them.

Having taken control of the situation, he can tell Maya doesn’t know what to do next.

Interesting.

Clarke assumes she already has that control and goes from there. They’d make a good team.

Tragically, all Maya has is Atom.

Atom steps forward, passing Raven, who bristles, but doesn’t try to stop him, to confront Murphy. “I’ve been telling you to work on that for years,” Atom says. “What changed?”

“Nothing,” Murphy tells him. “I just realised I don’t need you any more.”

“Because you have Princess Clarke,” Atom spits.

“Atom!” Maya says sharply and he jerks away from Murphy as though tugged by a leash. He doesn’t retreat, at least no further than Raven has.

“You want a try at me, Bellamy?” Murphy asks. This is fun. “You’re the only one I’ve given permission after all.”

The look Bellamy gives him is just as sharp as Maya’s words. “I’ll deal with you when I’ve worked out what exactly I’m dealing with you for.”

Murphy made the right choice.

He sees Jasper shaking his head with an amused smile, but doesn’t draw attention to it. Like Jasper wouldn’t love the attention in his place.

“I’m not sorry I told Finn about Raven and Clarke,” Murphy informs them, mostly honestly. “Should’ve been them to, but they weren’t gonna.”

“I was,” Raven argues. “Except first chance I had to get him alone to and you barge in first.”

“Could’ve followed us,” Murphy points out. “Told me to float off. But you didn’t and Clarke didn’t ‘cause it was easier not to. Pair of hypocrites. One rule for Finn and another rule for you, huh?”

Raven still looks angry, but it’s directed inward so Murphy feels a little safer.

“One rule for ...?” Maya asks, looking around the group.

There’s a pause as the usual ‘how do we explain our nonsense to outsiders’ issue is raised. Oddly Atom is firmly in the awkward insiders category, even though he don't know most of it.

Maybe not so oddly if he’s into Maya.

Murphy’s about to do it, since he has no shame, but Jasper steps in. “I don’t know the whole story, but Finn cheated on Raven with Clarke and didn’t even tell Clarke Raven existed and then didn’t tell Raven he had and I think there was something about an injury he didn’t really have? Raven broke up with Finn when she found out.”

Wow, that explanation makes it almost sound normal. Much better than Murphy’s plan to tell Maya that Finn is a manipulative slut and Clarke and Raven occasionally hit him to make him stop.

Maya sighs softly. “Why did I think this sort of thing stopped being an issue when I left school?”

“Because you’re an optimist,” Murphy suggests.

“If my parents were any indication you never grow out of this bullshit,” Atom adds, apparently losing interest in the whole thing now it’s not Murphy’s blood in the water.

Jasper, as the only other one in the group with that reference point, nods in solidarity. “They just mostly grow out of the shoving people against walls step.”

Raven smiles sheepishly at Murphy. “Sorry about that, I thought ...”

Murphy shrugs. “Nah, you were worried about him. He’s the one who needs the apology. Once you’ve dragged him back from wherever he’s run off to.”

Raven ruffles his hair, which is obviously exactly as bad as shoving him around.

Maya blinks round at them, trying to figure out how exactly the situation has been defused, but deciding to take the win.

Murphy glances at Bellamy, but for once the bastard is unreadable. At this rate, something doesn’t push Bellamy into acting soon Murphy’s going to have to pull something big just to break his damn patience. It’s been two days. Murphy hadn’t thought he’d last two minutes without Bellamy finding some excuse to hurt him.

Before Murphy can start picking at Bellamy’s poker face, Clarke descends upon them, Miller close behind her.

“Maya,” Clarke says, ignoring literally everything about the situation. “We need Mount Weather’s radio jammers taken down.”

“We’re sending people with the message too,” Miller adds. “For the Grounders who won’t accept that they know by magic. Any volunteers?”

 

Abby sees the radio in his hands before she sees that it’s not Sinclair holding it.

It’s Thelonious.

She’d already given up on Niylah, but she hadn’t expected the girl to betray them.

Thelonious nods to David Miller who unlocks the cell door. That’s even less expected. Abby is the first to step through it, hesitantly, then Thelonious holds out the radio for her to take.

“I was wrong,” Thelonious tells her. “Clarke did it. There’s peace with Mount Weather. You should talk to her. I’m making arrangements for the Charter election, now that we have somewhere to - to settle.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clarke's order isn't as poorly thought through as Murphy presumes. She's basically telling him not to pick at people's insecurities and not to validate his own. Constructive criticism only, not just trying to tear someone down. Naturally, this is a completely alien concept to Murphy.
> 
> Conversations between multiple people where you have to use dialogue tags every time are the worst.
> 
> So, I decided to see what events looked like from a different perspective and found a conspiracy! One that has next to no basis in fact and Abby will feel really silly about coming up with. So silly she'll ... do something that's going to be important in the sequel.
> 
> Aden and Lexa are definitely sticking around. Lee and Eliot, not so much.
> 
> It genuinely seems to be random who becomes important and who doesn't out of supporting cast. Especially OCs. Kali and Losi I was certain were going to stick around, but instead Bree, Roma and Kath are the ones with the real interesting stuff going on.
> 
> Don't even get me started on Cibber. Remember him? Probably not. I had Plans for him, damnit. He has Characterisation! I chose an actor I want him to look like!
> 
> A Clarification:  
> Someone has (rather rudely) brought it to my attention that this could be interpreted as pro-Bellamy. It's not.
> 
> Murphy is trying to use Bellamy to self-harm, which I think we can all agree is no healthier than picking random fights and bullying. Bellamy is completely unaware of this and is instead transferring his unhealthy mothering of Octavia onto Murphy. What that's going to lead to is Murphy trying to figure out a new way to get Bellamy to hurt him, like for example making it part of sex, and Bellamy is going to assume that's a positive thing.
> 
> Really what Murphy needs is someone who, shocker, _doesn't want to hurt him._ For any reason.
> 
> And what Bellamy needs is someone who is willing to stop him hurting other people. For any reason.
> 
> The only chance those two have at a healthy relationship (which I do not believe they have in canon, even after season 5) is getting other people involved. Bellamy is needed to drag Murphy back to their family when he tries to run and Murphy is needed to remind Bellamy of the mistakes he's made.
> 
> But it's the whole kru that they both need.
> 
> Bellamy's current possessiveness: not good.  
> Murphy's current search for pain: not good.
> 
> I'm doing some major rewrites to the sequel in the hopes of making that more clear sooner.


End file.
